


Our Purpose

by leviheichouscravat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Aged-Up Eren Yeager, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Canon Rewrite, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Levi/Eren Yeager, Eventual Romance, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager-centric, Levi/Eren Yeager-centric, Multi, New Special Operations Squad | New Squad Levi, Overprotective Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Possessive Levi Ackerman, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:40:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29423949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviheichouscravat/pseuds/leviheichouscravat
Summary: As Humanity's Strongest Soldier, Levi always put his job in front of everything. He didn't like creating attachments, not after losing his two best friends.But after losing Petra and the rest of his squad, with the exception of Eren, he realised that the younger man had secretly managed to get under his skin.So how was Levi supposed to be able follow orders blindly like he used to now that he's got an idiotic titan shifter hell bent on killing himself to save everyone else?
Relationships: Levi & Eren Yeager, Levi Ackerman & Eren Yeager, Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager, Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 26
Kudos: 157





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Eren and the rest of the 104th are 18 here (minimum age to enlist is 14, so they graduated when they were 17).
> 
> Levi is 26.
> 
> Pastor Nick reveals that Krista is Historia Reiss and that she is heir to the throne to Levi and the rest of them before they rescued Historia, Ymir, Connie and the others at Utgard Castle.
> 
> Hange is portrayed as female here because that’s how I envisioned her when reading the manga/watching the anime.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise for them to find one of their own betraying them after what happened over the past few weeks. Commander Erwin was obviously aware of the possibility of having more than 1 enemy in their midst when he purposely hid Eren’s exact position from most of their soldiers in the 57th Expedition.

Wasn’t it suspicious how the Female Titan suddenly changed her course during battle and headed over towards Eren’s location in such a short amount of time? Shouldn’t the fact that it turned out to be Annie raise more red flags?

It was lucky for them how Hange was able to deduce Reiner and Berthold’s real identity as the Armoured and Colossal Titan before Reiner confronted Eren and asked him to join them. But even with their knowledge, they still weren’t prepared to fight them.

Eren, to their benefit, was thankfully able to overcome his shock quickly and fight Reiner in their titan forms, taking the fight away from the soldiers to avoid any casualties. However, what he didn’t count on was Berthold, who suddenly intervened in between blows, allowing Reiner to incapacitate him and take him away from the scouts.

But what unexpectedly angered him wasn’t the fact that they were betrayed by two brats he didn’t even know - it was the fact that he wasn’t able to be there for them. Wasn’t able to prevent them from taking the shifter and protect his comrades in battle because Erwin asked him to stay behind because of his injuries.

Realistically he knew that he wouldn’t have been able to help them to his fullest and would just have been a hindrance on the battlefield. But screw being realistic, he was still furious with the situation and what those two brutes managed to do.

Which brings him back to the unconscious man lying on the bed in front of him.

He was alive - at least that much he can be thankful for.

And yet, still, it irked Levi to no end how reckless the idiot could’ve been to let his guard down in front of those traitors, even after he’d just been told to be careful by the Captain the night before they left. The fact that those idiotic friends of his also managed to leave him alone with them just served to further infuriate him.

And even when Levi tore into them that night, berating them on how stupid it was for them to leave Eren in Reiner and Berthold’s clutches, it was hardly enough to quell his fury for what he saw earlier that night.

Levi can vividly remember the moment Erwin barged through the gates on his horse, leading the remaining group of scouts who followed him obediently into their base. Mikasa raced inside the gates of the Survey Corps HQ behind Erwin and urged her horse to go faster as she surpassed Erwin and headed straight in front of the steps of the building with an unconscious Eren held tightly in her arms. Levi didn’t waste a second before ordering some scouts to help Erwin over to the infirmary before heading over to helping Mikasa haul Eren off of her horse and carrying the shifter towards the infirmary.

It was later on that Erwin told him how the shifter managed to control the titans after one tried to attack Eren and Mikasa. Hange was dumbfounded and ecstatic, immediately rambling on and on about new experiments they had to try on Eren. Levi, on the other hand, stayed silent and just continued to watch over the brown-haired scout while he laid unconscious.

Which brings him back to the dingy little cottage he was currently residing in, stuck babysitting a bunch of brats who got on his nerves on the Commander’s orders.

Levi watches the unconscious brown-haired man on the bed in front of him, willing Eren to wake up and show him those emerald green eyes again. Despite having all the physical wounds Levi saw when they came back healed due to his titan regenerating abilities, the younger man was still exhausted after getting kidnapped. So while keeping watch, Levi resorts to reading through Erwin’s reports all morning which outline the Commander’s plan for the Survey Corps while Levi and his new squad lay low in one of the villages within Wall Rose.

A soft knock on the door disrupts Levi’s thoughts, letting him set aside his papers before telling the person to come in.

The door opens to reveal a nervous Armin holding a tray of food in his hands. “I brought your lunch for you, sir,” he says quietly, waiting for Levi to nod before entering the room. Muttering a thank you as Armin places the tray on the table next to the bed, Levi observes the concerned look etched on the blond’s face. “Mikasa and the others are anxious to see him but I told them to wait until he wakes up. No use to bother him while he’s still unconscious,” Armin says quietly, smiling timidly at his Captain which earns him an approving nod.

“While you’re at it, why don’t you remind them of their chores. Or are you brats seriously that stupid that you would think I wouldn’t realise you were slacking off?” He says, raising an eyebrow. “Just because I’m stuck here babysitting this idiot doesn’t mean I can’t listen to everything going on in this filthy cottage,” Levi mutters, eyeing the closed door to his right. He doesn’t expect them to be working all day after just coming back from the mission but if they thought they would be getting off from their chores then they had another thing coming from them. Levi, knowing that Eren’s friends would be eavesdropping through the door, smirks and turns towards the door. “And if I don’t see everything spotless when I come downstairs, you’ll all be running drills for me till you’re the ones lying here unconscious” he growls loudly, causing Sasha to let out a feminine yelp from the other side of the door. Armin, who was still stuck inside the room with the annoyed Captain, flinches at the harshness and mutters an apology before turning to leave the room.

Babysitting a bunch of recruits wasn’t what Levi had in mind when Erwin told him to pick out new members for his squad but he knew that Eren would feel more comfortable working with his friends instead of random veteran scouts after losing Petra, Oluo, Eld, and Gunther. Besides, they weren’t that bad… if he could set aside the complaining and how filthy they were.

Just as he was about to continue reading the reports, Eren lets out a small groan which breaks the silence in the room, causing Levi to turn his gaze back towards the man. Slowly opening his eyes as he adjusted to the light in the room, Eren groans and clutches the side of his head.

_Tch. About fucking time._

“Finally decide to grace us with your presence?”

Eren’s green eyes snap open he hears Levi’s voice coming from beside him. “Captain!” He gasps, quickly sitting up to face his superior. “What happened? Where am I?”

“You’ve been unconscious for 3 days now brat. Your body took too much of a strain after regenerating your limbs and controlling those titans to save everyone.” Levi says as he flits his eyes to Eren’s hands briefly, noticing the sheets move as the younger man moved to clench his fists tightly. “Everything’s gone to shit and Erwin thinks the MPs might try to take you away if word got out that you can control titans with your new ability which is why he has us staying in this dump for a while.” He mutters before grabbing the tray Armin brought in, shoving it towards the man. “Eat up. You haven’t had anything since you were taken.”

Eren shifts uncomfortably on the bed, balancing the tray on his lap, and looks at the bowl of stew and piece of bread in front of him. “But sir, isn’t this yours?”

Levi simply shoots him a threatening look which causes Eren to nod hurriedly and grab the spoon.

Truth be told Levi hadn’t eaten much since moving to the cottage. After giving his squad their orders when they arrived and depositing the shifter onto the bed in the current room, he stayed by his bedside to look after him while he remained unconscious, not leaving his side once since they arrived. After all, he was still responsible for Eren.

But was that it? Was it just Levi’s role as Eren’s carer that made him stay by his bedside and glower at everyone who insisted that the captain let them take over for a few hours so that he could rest?

Noticing how quiet the room has gotten, he glances to see that the shifter was done eating, now looking at him expectantly.

“Get yourself cleaned up and report downstairs afterwards,” Levi says, eyeing the patches of dirt and blood clinging onto the brown-haired man’s shirt from his seat. When Eren doesn’t move, Levi scowls, hitting the top of the man’s head with his paper. “Oi! Are you just going to sit there or are you going to get up, shitty brat? Go take a fucking shower, you’re disgusting.” He growls, shoving Eren out of the room as the younger man stumbles out of the door.

* * *

Sitting at the head of the dining table downstairs, Levi tries to remember Pastor Nick’s words as he hears Historia retelling her childhood to the rest of his squad. Erwin mentioned putting her on the throne to Levi when he last saw him, which was why he was now in Stohess district to prepare for the coup against the government. Historia’s inauguration would no doubt help the Survey Corps’ cause and increase support from the people but that all came down to Erwin and his sham of a plan.

It always came down to a gamble with the man but by now Levi had learned to just go with it, trusting the blond man’s instincts and let things play out.

Historia, however, was hesitant to tell everyone about her childhood when Levi instructed her, unsurprisingly unaware of her lineage but complied, telling the others how Ymir mysteriously had known about her true identity before she revealed herself as a titan and her hard childhood as a child born from a nobleman’s mistress who hated her existence.

After the group of teenagers start to chime in every now and again, debating over the best course of action regarding Historia and the titans, Levi rolls his eyes and huffs in annoyance. “Will you brats shut it?” He says sternly, causing the group to shut up and straighten in their seats. “Despite what your opinions are on the matter, you don’t get a say in anything,” He says, shifting his gaze along the group of soldiers in front of him, fully aware of Mikasa eyeing him suspiciously at Eren’s side.

“But Captain-“

Levi sends a glare across the table to Connie, causing him to stop talking immediately. “The current king is a fraud and isn’t doing shit to help us so Reiss doesn’t have a choice but to step up,” he mutters, causing Historia to flinch.

“I understand Captain… But I don’t think I can do this,” Historia says dejectedly.

“Tch. Doesn’t matter what you think. This is now your job.” He points at Historia, whose eyes widen in panic. “You’ve seen what titans can do. You think the soldiers out there want to die for those bastards in Sina?” He pauses, raising an eyebrow at the blonde girl. “Are you telling me you won’t even try to do your job to help the Survey Corps and your shitty friends when we go outside of Rose?”

His eyes dart to the shifter seated beside him, who was looking at Historia full of hope and encouragement. Eren knew what she must’ve been feeling, he was also forced into the same situation as this kid, not asking to be a titan shifter but was now “Humanity’s Hope”. Levi was painfully aware of that burden thrust onto them as “Humanity’s Stronger Soldier”, but that didn’t mean he would go soft on them. If he could deal with it, then so could they. _Hell, even Eren who hates titans has come to terms with what he is and dealt with it. And with the kid’s tenacity and determination, he’s finally given us something to fight for._

Historia furrows her brows and nods towards Levi. “I will do my duty to the Scouts. For the scouts and for humanity,” she says solemnly, receiving a nod in approval from him.

“Good. Now you brats can start cleaning this shitty cottage.” Levi says, dragging a finger across the dusty table before shooting a glare towards the group as they scramble out of their seats. “Jaeger,” he calls out, stopping Eren from joining his friends. “You’re coming with me.”

“Sir?”

“Come on. We’re going training.” He mutters, leading the younger man outside to leave the rest of the squad to their chores.

After dealing with his anger from not being able to come with Erwin and the others on the rescue mission due to his injury, Levi decided that he needed to train Eren more aggressively. Not only was it better for the man to be able to go against titans without shifting every time he encountered one but he would also be more prepared if he got kidnapped again. _Which is turning into a lousy habit of his,_ he thinks to himself grimly.

Hange would be here later today with more news and without access to their gas supply they wouldn’t be able to practice any manoeuvre drills which left them with hand-to-hand combat. While the younger man was praised for his hand-to-hand combat skills by Shadis and ranked first in his class for it while he was still in the Training Corps, Levi had yet to see his skill for himself which intrigued the raven-haired man.

Deciding to test Eren out to see how he fared, Levi starts off slowly and was pleasantly surprised when Eren keeps up with him. _Not bad kid._ Looks like Eren was fairly good at hand-to-hand combat, and even impressed Levi a bit.

Deciding to increase their pace, Levi stops pulling his punches and forces Eren to go on defence.Eren dodges several punches and Levi was comforted by the knowledge of Eren’s quick healing when he lands a few punches on the green-eyed man’s stomach, earning him a grunt in response. Smirking, Eren quickly shook it off and advances towards Levi, a bright glint in his emerald eyes showing no evidence of backing down. _Good to see you’re still persistent as hell kid,_ Levi thinks as he dodges another punch from Eren.

* * *

Continuing this for 30 minutes and having given and received several punches and kicks, Levi tells Eren to take a break which the younger man happily obliges. Satisfied with their sparring session, Levi surprisingly only notices the changes in Eren’s physique as they fought. Unlike the lanky boy he met in the dungeon underneath the courtroom a year ago, Eren had grown taller, now a whole head taller than Levi, to his dismay, and had become more muscular with broad shoulders and toned arms. Even his face had become more angular and yet despite all of the muscles he’d gain from training, Eren still kept his lean figure, similar to the Captain’s.

Only one thing stayed the same. The one thing that could tell Eren apart from every other soldier within the Survey Corps. _Those damn emerald green eyes._ Levi remembers how bright those eyes glowed when he first met the kid - how Eren’s green orbs lit ablaze with his hatred of titans. Even then Levi was impressed with Eren’s determination and tenacity, and here he was standing in front of the 18-year-old man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders who still managed to laugh with his friends and fight tooth and nail to become a stronger soldier.

“Seems like you’ve been keeping up with your training then,” Levi comments causing Eren, who was sweating profusely, to grin at his Captain.

“Yes sir, I’ve tried to keep up with the training regiment Eld taught me before our last expedition,” Eren says, earning an approving nod from Levi.

“Good. I expect at least one of you to be aware of how things run in my squad.”

“Of course sir. Don’t worry, I’ll get the others up to speed with everything.” Eren says enthusiastically.

Eren, as usual, was always eager to impress the Captain. Always there to do or get whatever Levi needed and Levi couldn’t help but realise how much he became accustomed to it. He was getting used to having Eren around, which was probably idiotic on his part since everyone in the Scouts usually die within a year or two but Levi couldn’t help it. And it also helped that the brat could actually clean up pretty well, no doubt to impress the raven-haired man.

Levi rolls his eyes, unable to understand how exactly Eren managed to do the one thing Levi was always careful about but at least he wouldn’t let anyone know he was fond of the idiot.

_Tch. Stupid brat was so determined to get under my skin because of his damn hero worship and now look at me._

The sound of hoofbeats clicking on the ground causes Levi to snap his head in the direction of the forest, pushing Eren behind him as he inspects their surroundings.

“Sir?” The younger man asks, looking over Levi to see what was going on.

It was only when the bobbing head full of reddish-brown hair came into view did Levi ease up. _Damn shitty glasses.  
_

Hange, accompanied by Moblit, approaches the cottage on their horses, waving enthusiastically as she sees Eren and Levi standing there. “EREN!! YOU’RE AWAKE!” She yells as she jumps off of her horse when it comes to a stop a few steps from the cottage.

“Oi, not so loud shitty glasses,” Levi grumbles as Hange crushes Eren into a hug. Rolling his eyes, Levi grabs the back of Hange’s shirt and pulls her away from Eren. “Tch. Can’t this wait for inside?” It’s getting dark.” He mutters, shoving Eren in the direction of the door while Hange nods in surrender and tells Moblit to tie up the horses before following them inside.


	2. Chapter 2

“So the Survey Corps isn’t operational anymore?”

It felt like a kick to the gut.

How was it that humanity’s spear was temporarily disbanded? For what possible reason? Was this just the throne’s way of closing off people from learning more of the truth and stay clueless within the walls, ignorant and obedient?

“Officially, no… But don’t worry, we scouts have never really stuck to the rules,” Hange says with a sly grin to try lifting the tense atmosphere in the room. “Besides, this will all go away once we get Historia to the throne! Then we can figure out a way to get to that basement!”

Grateful for Hange’s attempt at reassuring them, Eren gives Hange a knowing smile and nods approvingly. Despite how enthusiastic Hange usually was, Hange always proved to be a great strategist and mediator and helped Eren figure out what was happening with his titan abilities which was why Eren was relieved to have Hange with them again.

“Yeah, assuming Eren can actually control those titans…” He hears Jean murmur, breaking him away from his thoughts. Used to his remarks, Eren just rolls his eyes and grabs Mikasa’s hand softly when catches the raven-haired woman glaring at the other man.

“Come on Jean, even you saw what happened. Those titans attacked Reiner and Berthold and left us alone because of Eren!” Armin quickly interjects, acting as a mediator after he sees Mikasa’s irritated look.

“Look, I’m just saying. Are we even sure Eren can do it again? What if he can’t and we’re in the middle of titan territory? I for one would like some reassurance before diving in blindly into another mission, unlike this suicidal maniac.” He states bluntly while waving Armin off, still oblivious to the death glare directed at him.

“Yeah? Well, I don’t know what you want me to say horse face. I never asked for this so I’m sorry that my inconsistent abilities are a fucking inconvenience for you,” snaps Eren.

_What does he expect me to say? Does he want me to make some false promise in front of the whole squad? I’ve only done it once and now they’re all staring at me as if I suddenly understand what the hell I’m doing._

“Oi. Will you brats calm down?” Levi scolds, glaring at the fuming teenagers in front of him. The gruff voice breaks the argument and, in spite of the Captain’s glare, Eren instinctively calms down, receiving some comfort in the familiarity of his Captain’s harsh tone and cold exterior amid the mayhem.

“Eh? Don’t worry Jean. Granted that Eren’s just discovered this new ability, we’ll have to run some tests before we go on our next expedition to Shiganshina.” Hange says, reassuring Jean and smiling sympathetically to the agitated shifter. “That being said, we do have to move some of you with us to another hideout outside of Wall Rose so that we can do these tests.”

“Huh? Won’t it be dangerous to be moving outside of the walls? Titans will be roaming about and we won’t have anyone on the lookout like we did when we were at HQ!” Sasha retorts, nervously nibbling a piece of bread she undoubtedly stole.

“It’s risky but we can’t risk not testing Eren’s new abilities either,” Levi mutters, shrugging.

“Captain Shorty is right as usual. We’ll need to be able to catch or at least detain some titans for Eren to test his new ability which is why we’re moving out there.” Hange explains, causing Levi to kick her chair because of her nickname for him while Eren nods beside her.

Eren agreed that this was a risk worth taking. He wanted to be able to control his new powers - the more leverage he had against the titans, the better. He didn’t want a repeat of the last expedition. Losing Petra and the rest of Squad Levi was hard enough, and Eren would be damned if he let that happen again. Seeing Captain Levi every day reminded him of how much harder he must work to become a better soldier and to prevent any more losses in their squad.

He would make his Captain proud and protect him and the others with his life.

Beside Eren, Mikasa furrows her brows after hearing Hange’s plan and turns to see the concern written all over Armin’s face. Knowing Eren, he would follow along with whatever Hange and Levi said if it would help fight the titans and take back Wall Maria which left them no choice but to go with the plan. And it didn’t help that Eren didn’t particularly like being coddled by Mikasa despite knowing how protective and concerned his friends always were.

Sighing in resolution, Mikasa grabs the end of her scarf tightly before staring at Hange determinedly. “If Eren is going, then I’m going with him,” Mikasa states, shooting a look at Levi as if daring him to object.

“Of course! We’ll need our best soldiers with us and I wouldn’t dream of splitting you up from Eren.” Hange says, fully aware of how protective Mikasa was of Eren and his safety.

Satisfied with the approval of her request, Mikasa merely nods and listens to the scientist as she starts explaining the plan for the group to execute tomorrow. Beside her, Eren rolls his eyes at her persistence and glances at Armin who smiles knowingly at him. Nothing Eren could say would change her decision and no one else would ever think of getting in between them. Except for Captain Levi but even he knew that they would need their best fighters with them outside the walls.

And so it was settled. Eren, Mikasa, Historia, Levi, Hange, and Moblit would leave for Wall Maria in the morning while Jean, Armin, Sasha, and Connie would stay in the cottage until the Commander or Hange sends word to them. Hange also decided that Historia was too important to leave behind with the recruits which was why she would join Eren and the others outside of Rose under their protection while Erwin finds a way to get her on the throne.

The plan itself was well-constructed and precise, which made Eren feel less nervous about going through Calaneth on their way out of Wall Rose. However, apparently word got out that Eren controlled some of the titans during the rescue mission, causing a commotion within the districts.

While this earned Eren a few points with the commoners, strengthening his image as “Humanity’s Hope”, several Wallists insisted that the MPs arrest and execute him for being too dangerous.

“I mean, you can’t really blame them though. It’s bad enough Eren can turn into a titan but controlling other titans? We’d be screwed if Eren turned out to be against humanity.” Connie mutters, earning a smack on the back of his head from Sasha. “Ow! Sasha!” he shouts.

“Don’t be so insensitive, idiot. Eren’s our friend! He would never do that.” Sasha chides, frowning at her idiotic best friend.

“Oi, I’m just saying what those freaks are probably thinking…” he mumbles, wincing as he rubs the back of his head.

“Yes, well it’s a good thing no one saw that titan we found within the wall before we covered it up.” Hange chimes in, pouring a cup of tea for herself and Moblit while Levi refused to drink the ‘watered leaf concoction’ Connie made.

Finding those titans was a surprise to everyone, especially Eren. He had always thought that titans were only capable of wreaking havoc and destroying things, but to find out that the walls were made out of Colossal Titans? It shattered his beliefs and forced him to rethink everything he’s been taught as a child.

After that, the only that stood between him and hopelessness was the Survey Corps.

He had always believed in the Wings of Freedom since he was a child and serving under Captain Levi, Hange and Commander Erwin was a dream come true. He couldn’t fail them. Not now. And the disbandment just fuelled his determination for revenge.

“In any case, it’s a good idea for Historia and Eren to be under your and Captain’s Levi care, Hange. That way, if anything happens, you two will be there to intervene.” Armin says encouragingly, bringing Eren back from his thoughts.

“Yeah and if not I’m sure Mikasa would kill anyone that even comes close to Eren” Jean mutters under his breath, causing Eren to shoot him a glare.

“Ah, but that’s where you come in Jean boy.” Hange grins mischievously, making Jean back away from the table. “While we pass Calaneth in our cart, you and Armin will have the honour of posing as Historia and Eren in disguises to distract everyone.” She says, laughing maniacally at her plan.

_Jean disguised as me? As if anyone would believe that. I look nothing like that horse-faced bastard._

“Eh? I have to disguise as this idiot again!?” Jean protests.

“I should be the one complaining horse face. I look nothing like the horses you’re related to.” Eren huffs, eliciting a snort from Connie as he chokes on his tea. “Besides, why does Armin have to dress up like Historia too?”

“Well, just because Pastor Nick only told Erwin and the people in this room about Historia’s true lineage, doesn’t mean no one else knows. We need to take precautions in case someone does come and try to kidnap you both.” Hange explains.

 _Well, that complicates things,_ Eren thinks as he glances at Levi. Levi kept silent throughout their discussion, leaning back in his seat impassively as he listened to the loud group from his spot at the head of the table. _I wonder how he’s staying so calm in spite of everything?_ _Probably because he has more experience dealing with these sorts of things I guess. Also helps that he’s stronger than anyone within the walls,_ he thinks to himself as he continues studying his Captain discreetly.

Eren remembers Petra mentioning Levi’s past as a thug from the Underground and wonders whether that helped the man remain calm under pressure on expeditions. _Surely being a thug and facing titans are two different things. So how does he do it? He never even hesitates in battle and he’s always honest and unforgiving when anyone gave him shit…_

Realising that the Captain was now staring back at him, Eren’s cheeks flush embarrassingly as he darts his eyes away from the other man.

_Shit, he saw me staring at him. I really am an idiot._

Groaning inwardly, he curses himself before attempting to focus on Hange again, completely unaware of the grey eyes that were now trained on him.

* * *

“Oi. Keep your hood up, idiot.” Levi scolds, kicking Eren’s boot as they sit inside the tarp-covered cart with Historia and Mikasa.

“Sorry, sir,” Eren says sheepishly, pulling down his hood to cover his face.

Palms slick with sweat, Eren’s eyes flicker between Levi and Mikasa who were seated in front of him. He knows everything was going to plan so far but, for some reason, Levi was still tense and overly aware of their surroundings.

 _It could just be his military training,_ Eren reassures himself.

Everything was going smoothly - they entered Calaneth without any difficulties and managed to pass the citizens of Calaneth without arousing suspicion. Jean and Armin were close by, under their disguises, walking by the stalls with Connie and Sasha who served as a lookout while Hange and Moblit sat upfront with the horses. And yet despite everything, Eren knew something felt wrong. _Am I just being paranoid? It’s probably just my nerves but then again, why is Captain Levi so alert? It’s like he’s anticipating something to go wrong._ Shaking away his nerves, Eren quickly sneaks a glance at Levi who says nothing while he watches the younger man in front of him fumble with a loose seam nervously.

Just as he was about to say something, Eren hears a scream ripple through the crowd from across the street. Jolting up from his seat, Eren heads towards the end of the cart to offer his help before being shoved back to his seat by Levi.

“Sit your ass down Jaeger.” He orders, shoving Eren back down to his seat as he grabs his blades situated by the side of his hips. “Ackerman, watch out for these two. I’m going with to see what’s going on.” He says, earning a silent nod from Mikasa before leaving the three alone.

Eren scowls at the retreating figure, glancing over to Historia who looked uncomfortable with the tension between the two siblings.

_How are we supposed to leave him to deal with it? What if he needs back up?_

“Mikasa, we should go help,” Eren says angrily.

Eren hated being told to stay behind, hated feeling so useless, but couldn’t help but listen to Levi’s orders, not wanting to upset his superior.

“You heard him. This could be a trap Eren.” She scolds, frowning at Eren as she sat near the end of the cart with her hands on her blades.

“But-“

“She’s right Eren, you should listen to her. If anything happened, you can’t exactly shift in the middle of Calaneth anyways.” Historia reasons, smiling gently at Eren as she softly squeezes his shoulder causing Eren to sigh in defeat.

_She has a point. I can’t exactly shift without them thinking I’m going rogue and I can’t waste any gas using my ODM gear unless it’s an emergency._

Not given any other option, Eren sinks back into his seat and opts to watch the shadows of people on the street flicker from beneath the tarp as they wait for Captain Levi’s return.

A few minutes pass by, causing Eren to shift anxiously next to Historia.

_Where is Captain Levi? What’s taking him so long?_

Startled by the cart coming to a sudden stop, Eren’s eyes widen with alert and he rushes to raise the tarp near the front of the cart to check on Hange and Moblit. “They’re gone.” He says, alerting his companions as he drops the tarp behind him. “Okay, now we really need to go.” He says, gasping as the raven-haired woman pushes him back.

“Eren, stop it. It’s a trap! Hange and the others will manage.” She reasons, frowning at the man sprawled on the floor of the cart.

Just as he was about to retort, a loud feminine shriek breaks the heated argument between the two. It takes only a second for the realisation to dawn on them causing the three to share a look of panic.

They knew that voice.

It was Sasha _._

“Fuck this, I’m going.” Eren snaps, glowering as he pushes Mikasa out of the way to rush out of the cart with the two trailing behind him. He navigates through the crowd quickly and finds the familiar brown ponytail at the edge of the market with Connie beside her, frantically searching the crowd. “Sasha, what happened? We heard you scream,” he says as they reach the pair.

“Eren!” She whisper-shouts, dragging him into an abandoned alleyway with a panicked look in her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here!!” She warns, rushing the rest of the group out of the market and into the alley.

“Sasha, what happened?” Mikasa urges, instinctively reaching one hand to draw one of her blades.

“Jean and Armin… They took them.” Connie mutters, eyes glazing with horror. “I think they noticed that Jean wasn’t Eren. I heard them threatening him to tell them where Eren really was, but they still took him… I-“ He stutters at the end.

“Connie where did they take him?”

“They had ODM gear but it looked modified. We tried to follow them but one of the guys had a knife to Armin’s throat and told us to stay put.” Sasha explains, hearing Eren and Mikasa gasp at the mention of Armin.

_Okay, that explains why Jean and Armin weren’t here and why Sasha and Connie are. But where was Captain Levi?_

“Sasha, did you see Captain Levi or Hange?” Eren asks, eyes trained at the roofs of the buildings nearby.

_If they’re using ODM gear then they’ll be able to see us here anyway._

“Captain Levi? I thought he was with you!” Connie says, furrowing his brows.

“Fuck, that means they’re after them.” Eren sighs, trying to think of a plan as he scans the rooftops. "Okay, if they’re using ODM gear then we’re better off in the market with the crowd. We’re just sitting ducks here. Hange, Moblit, and Captain Levi are gone and our best lead is Jean and Armin so we should just try finding them first.” Eren says decidedly, taking charge.

With no objections, the group heads back into the market in the direction that Jean and Armin went earlier. Everyone was high on alert and subconsciously made sure that Eren and Historia were in the middle of the group while their eyes dart between the rooftops of each building they pass by.

Hearing the familiar whizzing sound of ODM gear, Mikasa’s head turns towards a building on their left. Hesitating between staying with Eren and approaching the mysterious thug, Eren grabs her hand reassuringly. “Go. They need you more than I do right now and we can’t waste everyone’s gas by pursuing her. We’ll be fine,” he says, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Reluctantly, Mikasa nods before shooting her hooks towards the building adjacent to that in pursuit of the thug.

_You’re our best soldier Mikasa, you can do this. I believe in you._

“Come on, we should keep going. Mikasa can handle herself.” Eren says.

“It’s not Mikasa I’m worried about. It’s the other guy!” Sasha gulps, grinning nervously at him causing Eren to chuckle as they continue down the market towards a fork in the road.

Connie looks both ways and scratches the back of his head before turning back to look at his friends. “Shit, I don’t know if they went left or right.”

“Should we split up?” Sasha asks, all three heads turning to look at Eren inquisitively.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea but I guess we’re out of options right now. Connie, why don’t you go with Sasha and I’ll go with Historia.”

“But Eren, you’re both targets! It’ll be easier for them to take you both out that way.” Connie argues, Sasha nodding along beside him.

“I know but if we split up, Historia or I won’t know if the other one’s taken and if worst comes to worst then I’ll just have to transform.” He decides, weighing out his options in his head. “I mean, you’ve heard what the Captain says - I’m an idiot. So if you both have a better idea…” He suggests, quirking an eyebrow at the two.

Silently, they both looked at each other and shrugged, deciding to go along with Eren’s plan. It seemed logical enough for them and without Mikasa or Captain Levi, they were out of options.

“What about you Historia? Are you okay with this?” Eren asks the quiet blonde by his side.

“I’m okay with it. I trust you.” She says under her breath, eyes shining with faith for the brown-haired shifter. “Let’s go and save our friends.”

Nodding, Eren tells his friends to be careful before he and Historia venture off to the road going to the right. It was quiet, with only one or two people passing them as they inspected the roof of the buildings beside them.

 _Shit, this really is an idiotic idea,_ Eren thinks. _What did I get us into?_

“Eren.” Historia whimpers, clutching his arm suddenly.

Eren snaps his head towards the blonde, grabbing his blade with his free hand as he looks up. Just as he sees a figure flying above him, he feels a sharp pain in his neck.

_What the fuck?_

“Histori-“ He trails off, his body suddenly becoming limp before he falls into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

_Just as he was about to say something, Eren hears a scream ripple through the crowd from across the street. Jolting up from his seat, Eren heads towards the end of the cart to offer his help before being shoved back to his seat by Levi._

_“Sit your ass down Jaeger.” He orders, shoving Eren back down to his seat as he grabs his blades situated by the side of his hips. “Ackerman, watch out for these two. I’m going with to see what’s going on.” He says, earning a silent nod from Mikasa before leaving the three alone._

* * *

As reluctant as Levi is to leave Eren and Historia alone with the others, he doesn’t get much of a choice when he sees a crowd start to form in the direction of the scream. He knows he needs to assess the potential threat first before returning to the group, even if it means having to leave them in the capable hands of Hange and Mikasa while he investigates.

Sighing in indignation, he closes the tarp covering the cart behind him and heads across the street, praying to all three goddesses that the brats don’t get into any trouble with him away.

 _At least he has Ackerman to keep him in check_ , Levi thinks, finding some relief in the raven-haired woman’s overprotective disposition for keeping the shifter safe.

Focusing back to the task at hand, the Captain treads through the outskirts of the crowd stealthily, sticking to the sides of the buildings surrounding him while he scans the crowd to determine the source of the commotion. The crowd, however, starts to increase in size and Levi feels the occasional shove as more people fill the streets, causing Levi to sink back into the shadows. In the midst of the crowd, he finally notices two men lifting a wounded teenager with blood seeping through his shirt staining the yellow fabric with dark red blotches while an older woman fusses about around them, telling them to hurry up. As the group passes by Levi, he stands on his tiptoes and cranes his neck to examine the kid’s wound better, causing him to furrow his brows.

It’s a stab wound.

Feeling someone shove against him from his side, Levi darts his gaze from the man and finds a cloaked woman pushing her way past the crowd in a hurry. Not wasting any time, he follows the woman discreetly through the crowd, making sure he doesn’t lose the trail as she turns into an empty street.

She slows down once they arrive at the street and fumbles with her cloak, seemingly trying to grab something from under it. Unable to see what it is because of Levi’s inconspicuous position, he skulks by the edges of the buildings behind her, careful to keep to the shadows and still stay within a distance that won’t alarm her of Levi’s presence.

If only he could get a better angle then maybe he could see what she was up to.

All of a sudden, the cloaked woman stops fumbling with her cloak and raises her hood, turning her head straight in Levi’s direction. “Is there something I can help you with?” She asks, seemingly unfazed by the raven-haired man as she bats her eyelashes innocently at him.

“Funny you should ask that. Seemed like you were in a bit of a hurry yourself. I assume it’s to get rid of that knife you’re keeping under your cloak?”

“How observant of you, Captain Levi.” She praises him mockingly. “Despite your noble intentions, everything you saw was actually meant for you.”

Levi growls. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Kenny always said you had a knack of getting into knife fights.” She chirps wickedly, smirking at Levi before raising her gun from underneath her cloak and firing.

Levi glowers when she mentions that name and wrenches himself to the side effortlessly when he hears the gunshot, dodging the bullet which lodges itself into one of the wooden pillars Levi had been standing in front of mere seconds ago.

“Don’t be shy Captain, I’ve always wanted to see your prowess as Humanity’s Strongest Soldier!” The woman laughs maniacally, shooting bullet after bullet towards the man as he gracefully flips behind an abandoned cart, giving him a split second to grab his ODM trigger before shooting his hooks onto the side of the building adjacent to him.

How did he fall into this trap? Fuck, he needs to get back to Eren and the others immediately before something happens.

Gaze hardening with determination, Levi expertly manoeuvres through the buildings as he rushes to the main street where he left his team. Shooting one of his hooks into a nearby building, he hears the sound of a gunshot ripple through the wind, causing him to snap his head in that direction.

The woman bellows from behind him, now free from her cloak and accompanied by 4 other men, all clad in uniforms. The five of them follow him from different directions, all equipped with modified ODM gears with guns attached to them.

_Just my fucking luck._

Levi growls frustratingly, shooting his hooks onto a pole and using the momentum to hurl him back, allowing Levi to slip under two of the men while bringing his blades up, slicing through their bodies like butter.

As they watch their comrades fall, the woman gestures the other two to attack as she advances towards the Captain with a war cry, guns blazing. The Captain was all too familiar with fighting men as opposed to his other comrades at the Survey Corps due to his time in the Underground, giving him an edge. Seeing the woman lose herself to rage, a mistake he’s seen far too often from reckless thugs in his past, he jumps down the building and gets closer to the ground, making himself scarce from the soldiers.

“Where’d he-“ Before the soldier can even finish his sentence, Levi shoots up the side of the building, stopping the soldier right in his tracks as he slices the man’s neck deeply with his blades.

Glancing over to see the last two running towards him on the roof of the building in front of him, he uses his momentum from swinging, added with a bit of gas, to catapult himself into the sky above them. Glowering, he shoots one of his hooks into the woman’s abdomen and another to the roof of that building before descends towards them, sinking his blades into the other soldier as he lands, killing the man.

Turning his head towards the woman on the ground, he finds her sputtering blood from her mouth, her hands fumbling with the hooks still embedded inside of her abdomen.

“Tch. Don’t bother, you’ll bleed out in minutes,” Levi mutters, wiping the blood off of his face using his handkerchief. The woman, however, doesn’t give up and reaches for her gun before Levi kicks it away from her and crouches down in front of her. “Now tell me. Who sent you and how do you know Kenny?” he snarls.

To his surprise, the woman lets out a huff of laughter and tilts her head up to meet Levi’s eyes brazenly. “It’s ironic really. Humanity’s Strongest Soldier willing to kill other humans to protecting a monster. Is he really worth risking your life?”

Levi surges forward and grabs her collar roughly, eliciting a pained gasp. “What do you want with him?” He growls lowly, rage clouding his steely grey eyes. The woman squirms in pain against his hold and Levi huffs annoyedly, roughly shoving her back on the ground.

“Just what needs to be done.” She manages to croak out, choking on the blood that continues to drip from the sides of her mouth and, with a final cough, her body goes limp.

Levi simply stares at the dead woman in front of him before shooting his hooks to another roof as he heads back to the cart quickly, her words seeping into him as he manoeuvres his body around the buildings.

He needs to get to the others immediately. He needs to make sure Eren was safe.

Spotting the cart, he immediately feels uneasy when he doesn’t see Hange and Moblit behind the horses. He swings down towards the cart, rushing to the back to throw the tarp open, eyes widening in horror when he finds the back of the cart empty.

Where are they? Where did they go?

Levi shakes his head, quickly running through the streets to search for them, conserving his gas. for later. Pushing his way through the pedestrians, Levi makes his way across the district, checking each building he sees, and finally spots Sasha and Connie hidden inside one of the abandoned buildings in the corner of a street.

“Oi. Will someone tell me what the fuck you both are doing in here! Where is everyone?”

Sasha and Connie jolt up in surprise when they hear Levi’s voice echo through the empty building, immediately turning towards the Captain, who’s striding towards them angrily. They look at each other, both at a loss for words, before simply stepping aside to let the Captain through. Levi furrows his brow at the both of them before passing them, stopping in his step as he takes in the sight before him.

“Shut the doors.” Levi orders as he crouches by the unconscious forms of Hange, Moblit, Armin, and Jean. Only after hearing the doors close and the two younger soldiers shuffle behind him does he stand up and tear his gaze away from the brown-haired scientist to face the pair behind him. “What the fuck happened?”

“I don’t-“

“We were just-“

“They-“

“Oi. One at a fucking time!” He shouts, effectively silencing the two. “Braus,” he points at the woman. “Explain.”

“We were walking through the market with Jean and Armin just like we planned when all of a sudden 4 people came out of nowhere using ODM gears and grabbed Armin and Jean. We tried to fight them off but they had a knife to Armin’s throat and threatened to kill him if tried anything.” She explains, face pale with distraught. “When they brought them to the roof, Connie heard one of them ask Jean where the real Eren was and kicked him when Jean wouldn’t talk. Eren, Historia, and Mikasa found us a few minutes after they left and mentioned that you, Hange, and Moblit were missing so we split up to find you.”

“And where are they now?” Levi asks.

“Mikasa went after someone with ODM gear in the market a while ago and Eren went with Historia in another direction to find you,” Connie says, pinning his eyes to the ground to avoid Levi’s scowl.

“Are you two that stupid? Everyone is after Eren and Historia and you let them wander off on their own?” He snaps, glaring at the two.

“It was Eren’s idea, sir. He thought that he could shift if things got too bad so we went along with it,” Sasha whispers, flinching when Levi growls.

“And of course you’d listen to that idiotic brat.” He mutters, sighing before he glances back at the four unconscious soldiers on the ground.

He knows he can’t leave them to search for Eren and the other two right now. Not like this anyway. His best chance is to wait for either Hange or Moblit to wake up and take charge before he can leave them again.

The sound of a window breaking causes Levi to grab his blades and raise them expectantly while he turns to see a figure crashing inside the building.

Who the hell could it be now?

“Where is Eren?”

The familiar feminine voice causes him to sigh and lower his blades.

Of course it’s her.

“Mikasa! You’re alright!” Sasha shrieks, running towards the taller woman eagerly to hug her.

“Oi, cut it out. We have other things to deal with.” Levi says gruffly, gesturing for Mikasa to take a look at their comrades. He hears her gasp silently as she looks at Armin strewn across the group, and grabs his hand to give it a gentle squeeze.

“Where. Is. Eren.” She repeats, her voice laced with venom as she glares at the captain viciously.

“Does it look like I have any fucking idea?” He growls.

The older man knows that he shouldn’t let his emotions get to him now but couldn’t help himself. He should’ve known better than to leave that brat alone. And now he’s gone, probably in some kind of trouble, with Levi far away and unable to help.

Gritting his teeth, he urges himself to calm down and crouches down to shake Hange’s shoulder. “Shitty glasses, wake up. Now’s not the time to be taking a fucking nap.” He mutters, looking at the scientist scrutinisingly.

No response.

_Tch. Figures._

Levi lets out a sighing in frustration and lowers his face next to Hange’s ear, out of his squad members’ earshot, and mutters something under his breath. “I’m only saying this once, but.. I actually fucking need you right now so will you just wake the fuck up?” Hearing his words, the brown-haired woman mumbles something ineligible, causing Levi to roll his eyes.

And of course she wakes up after hearing that. The damn woman loved annoying Levi to no end.

“I always knew you loved me, Levi..” She mumbles groggily, mouth widening into an idiotic grin.

“Tch. In your dreams, four eyes.” Levi scoffs, ignoring the annoying scientist’s obnoxious grin as he gets back up on his feet. “Now wake the fuck up so we can fix this mess.” He says, pulling Hange up from the ground.

“What’s gotten you so grumpy?” Hange mutters, wiping her goggles before noticing the three other soldiers in the room. “Connie? Sasha? What are you two doing here?”

Before either one can respond, a small murmur from behind her gets her attention. She looks towards Levi who shrugs and nudges Hange to turn around.

“EH!!!! What happened?!?!” Hange shrieks, seeing Moblit sitting on the ground. She instantly rushes to him and crouches beside him before grabbing his hand while she scans him for any visible wounds. Seeing no evidence of any wounds or trails of blood on his clothing, Hange relaxes a bit before meeting the man’s eyes. “Moblit, are you okay?” She asks, eyes searching for any sign of pain in her friend’s gaze.

“I’m okay, Section Commander… I saw you go down first before I felt something hit my neck.” He says, raising his hand to the side of his neck to check for a bump.

“Hit your… Oh no. I remember feeling a sharp pain in my neck too!” She says in distress, swatting Moblit’s hand away from his neck as she cranes her head to find the insert wound. “Oh no…”

“Well? Are you eventually going to tell us what happened or what?” Levi snaps, looking more irritated by the minute.

“We were drugged,” she mutters under her breath. “Which could mean that Eren and Historia…”

Hange doesn’t dare finish the sentence and no one says anything, hesitant to react around the Captain who’s cold stare pierce through Hange’s brown eyes, seething in anger.

“Levi…” Hange whispers, aware of how fond the Captain secretly is of the green-eyed shifter.

“Don’t.”

They were drugged. Which means Eren and Historia most likely were too. But the difference is that they weren’t here with them, they were taken, no doubt the targets of this whole ploy.

“Ackerman.” He barks, breaking the silence. “Did you at least manage to catch whoever was using the gear?”

“No. I followed her along a few streets but she pulled out a gun when she noticed me and I was forced to take cover. I thought of pursuing her but I decided to go back to make sure Eren was alright.” _‘Which he isn’t’_ is what her eyes manage to say but Levi simply ignores her look. She can blame him all she wants, it wasn’t going to change anything. She wasn’t the only one furious with the whole situation.

“But I did see an MP jacket on her,” she adds.

“Ugh, yeah, the asshole who hit me also looked like an MP…” Jean rasps from behind them.

Sasha gasps and Levi looks behind Hange and finds Jean gently helping Armin sit up as they both came back to their senses.

“You alright?” Connie asks, shoving his hand towards Jean to pull him up while Mikasa rushes to Armin’s side to help him. Jean groans as he gets to his feet, rubbing the back of his head and acknowledges the others.

“Where’s Eren and Historia?” Armin asks, looking around the room for the two. Mikasa stiffens by his side and subtly shakes her head at Armin, letting him know that she would tell him the whole story later.

Ignoring the blond, Levi shifts his gaze towards Jean. “How do you know they’re part of the MPs?”

“I saw him with an MP uniform when I was disguised as Eren in Stohess.”

“But he wasn’t wearing the uniform when you were with him today?” Levi asks once again, furrowing his brows when Jean shakes his head.

“Why would the MPs take Eren and Historia? Didn’t General Zackly leave Eren under Captain Levi’s care?” Sasha asks, looking around for anyone to answer.

Yes - which is why Levi’s enraged. He just wants his brat back so he can kill the idiot himself for being so stupid.

And although Levi doesn’t remember seeing any distinguishable crests on the soldiers he saw earlier he knew better than to dismiss Mikasa. And now Jean’s saying that the man who drugged him was also an MP when they were in Sina, which meant that…

_Fuck._

This was an inside job.

“We need to get to one of the MP outposts,” Levi declares.

“Levi, what are you-“ Hange starts, immediately cut off by the Captain.

“We need one of those pigs to tell us what type of Special Operations team they have and where they took Eren.” He says, calmly resorting back into his impassive mask as he orders the group to head over to the abandoned cart.

“Yes, Captain!” His squad choruses, racing out of the door ahead of their superiors as Levi nods to Hange and Moblit before they follow them out.

Someone inside Sina wanted Eren and Historia away from the Survey Corps’ care and succeeded.

They kidnapped **his** brat and he won’t let them get away with it.

 _I’ll find you soon enough so don’t you dare die on me or I’ll kill you myself,_ he thinks as he shuffles through the crowd.

_It’s your fucking fault for making me care, you shitty brat._

Eyes hardening with determination and fury, he walks faster through the streets, eager to get to the cart and start his search.

He would find them and kill whoever was responsible.

_And I won’t let you out of my sight again._


	4. Chapter 4

Maybe someone was looking out for them after all, because this sure as hell wasn’t what Levi had in mind when they went looking for an MP outpost.

He knew their chances of running into MP soldiers while they scouted the area was inevitable, but he never imagined getting help from someone within the Military Police itself.

Luckily for them, the two MPs assigned to do the perimeter check around the area of the woods they were currently camped at knew Annie Leonhart when she served as an MP. So, after explaining to them that Annie was actually the Female Titan that Eren fought in Stohess, they seemed to back down and Marlo, one of the MPs, was eager to help them with their mission.

Levi, however, wasn’t convinced.

After telling Jean to let them loose within the woods after they left, Jean brought them back with him and begged Levi to give Marlo a chance, insisting that the bowl-haired man reminded him of a certain suicidal green-eyed man and that he could be trusted. Levi, noticing the taller man’s resolution, reluctantly agreed and played along when Marlo told them his superior’s orders and offered to lead them to their least secure outpost.

It was only when he saw the near-empty outpost did Levi let go of the tight grip he had on his blades and relaxed his posture. Seems like the bowl-haired soldier told the trust and didn’t double-cross them. Huh. Levi made a mental note to tell Jean he did a good job after they got Eren and Historia back. The kid had good instincts and a knack for leadership when he wasn’t too busy getting into fights with Eren.

“This is the least-manned checkpoint around. You shouldn’t have too much trouble getting in,” the bowl-haired soldier says.

“Alright. You two should go back to your squad now. We can take it from here.”

“But Captain-“

“You’ve done enough to help,” Levi says causing Marlo to nod dejectedly, reluctantly walking away from the group when Hitch tugs at his arm forcefully. “Marlo. Hitch.” He calls out to the two, causing them to turn back to the older man. “Thank you for your help.”

“Sir!” They both say, saluting Levi whole-heartedly before walking back into the woods.

“Alright, let’s go. It’s our turn now,” he says to his team bitterly, gesturing his squad to grab the cart and head to the road near the outskirts of the woods, still hidden from the outer gates of the outpost.

The night sky provides good cover, dark grey clouds filling the sky, obscuring the stars and moon from lighting the ground and trees surrounding them. The outpost lights up in comparison, lamps scattered along the sides of the gates in each corner allowing the squad to easily count the number of members present.

Armin proposes a plan after Sasha does some reconnaissance, suggesting they create a distraction and use the dark cover of night to deploy another team to infiltrate the farther corners of the outpost to limit the number of casualties. Levi, no stranger to Armin’s brilliant strategic skills which rivalled Erwin’s, agrees with his plan and orders everyone to their positions.

When everyone is in position, Captain Levi sends a nod to Jean, who is sitting in front of the cart a few feet away, signalling for him to commence. Jean, seeing the Captain’s signal, raises the reins and snaps them down assertively, urging the horses into a gallop with Sasha and Connie hanging from the sides of the cart, blades raised and faces grim.

“Give them hell,” Levi mutters under his breath, watching the trio barge through the gates from behind the trees.

The outpost breaks into chaos when the MP soldiers see the horses break through the gates, destroying the gates on impact and sending wooden fragments flying all over the place. The soldiers scramble to retrieve their gear from the side of the tents around them, obviously taking light of their guard duty, eyes darting wildly like preyed animals. Taking the havoc as a sign of their successful distraction, Levi, Armin, and Mikasa sneak into the outpost stealthily and knock the two soldiers guarding one of the larger tents sitting in the middle of the outpost before anyone notices them. Levi quickly orders Mikasa and Armin to go and help the others before slinking into the tent, smirking maliciously when he spots a plump, bearded, older man, no doubt their higher-ranking officer, raising his gun towards the tent’s entrance.

“Tch. Should’ve known you would cower behind your subordinates,” Levi scowls as he effortlessly slides his lean body along the barrel of the shotgun and seizes the officer’s hands, snatching the gun from the officer’s sweaty plump fingers before wrapping his arm around the older man’s neck. “Wouldn’t want to kill a fellow officer now would you?” He says, giving the man’s throat a tighter squeeze.

“Why you-”

Tightening his hold, the officer chokes on his words and roughly digs his nails into Levi’s arm in a pitiful attempt to escape. Levi, unfazed by the struggling man, keeps his grip and waits for the man to go limp in his hands before releasing his hold. The man drops to the ground unceremoniously and Levi scoffs in disgust as he kicks the man’s hand away from his boot.

_Filthy piece of shit._

Mikasa, as if on cue, steps into the tent and meets the Captain’s eyes, barely sparing a glance towards the unconscious man sprawled on the ground beside him.

“Status?”

“Everything’s taken care of, sir. We rounded up the MP soldiers and tied them up.”

Levi nods. “Good, get the others and head back to camp.”

Mikasa spares a last glance towards the motionless man and hesitates briefly, looking towards her superior officer with her brows knit. Levi raises his brow, gesturing to the younger woman to say what’s on her mind but she finally nods reluctantly and exits the tent.

Alone again, Levi runs his fingers through his raven hair and sighs. With everything going on Levi hadn’t even thought of taking a shower and only noticed how greasy his hair had become over the past few days. It was odd that he hadn’t noticed until now, but he supposes that his concern over Eren and Historia superseded even his obsessive cleaning tendencies.

He wouldn’t even be in this position if they weren’t taken from them. But at least he had someone he could take it out on now.

“Fucking MP pigshit,” he mutters coldly, kicking the man to provoke a response. And… nothing. “Looks like I’m going to have to drag you then,” he says, grabbing the man’s collar thoughtlessly before exiting the tent.

The cotton-like clouds adorning the night sky seemed to have dissipated while Levi tended to the disheveled officer when he finds the crescent-shaped moon shining down on him from above, allowing Levi to see his surroundings without the help of the lamps that were planted around the outpost. But at least the lack of light made the empty outpost look less conspicuous - no doubt Armin’s thinking. Sighing, Levi drags the man across the outpost and onto the hill they set up camp in, passing by a group of unconscious soldiers tied together onto a post on his way out.

As he comes up the hill, he sees his squad on high on alert, Sasha acting as a lookout in the tree above them, Jean with a shotgun he probably took from the outpost, and the other three with their blades ready. Hearing his footsteps, Jean raises his gun, and the rest turn vigilantly towards the noise, poised to attack.

“It’s me,” he says, causing them to relax as Levi’s raven hair comes into view, still unaware of the companion Levi’s brought along. Seeing their Captain hauling a plump officer behind him, they all stiffen, unprepared for the sight welcoming them.

“Captain, he’s..”

“With the Interior Police,” Levi says, silencing Armin, before shoving the man towards the tree Sasha was in.“Tie him up. I’ve got a few questions for him.” He adds, nodding towards Connie,who gulps.

“Yes, sir.”

Levi, thankful to have the foresight to set camp near a river, leaves his squad to get cleaned up, hands itching to clean the dirt and dried up blood from his skin.

_How did I let myself get this filthy,_ he thinks to himself, wrinkling his nose when he notices the dirt trapped under his nails.

Feeling the tension roll off him as he dips his arms into the river, he cups the clear water in his hands and washes the dirt and grime out of his hair and face, grimacing at the brown colour staining the water going downstream. After cleaning his hair, face, and neck, he quickly rinses his arms and legs before drying himself using his handkerchief before heading back, not wanting to leave his squad alone for too long with the sun coming up in a few hours.

Guess he should start questioning the bastard.

He sees the man in question as he gets near their camp and strides towards him, ignoring the panicked looks on his squad members’ faces and kicks the man’s abdomen harshly. Fuck this, he’s not wasting any more time waiting for the asshole to wake up. Coughing from the collision, the officer raises his head to see Levi towering menacingly over him in all his glory. No one could deny the man’s intimidating aura regardless of his height - the invincible Captain Levi of the Survey Corps was legend after all.

“Now then. Why don’t you and I have a little chat?” He murmurs lowly, lips curling into a mirthless smile. “Where are Eren and Krista?”

“You think you’re so brave, going against orders to save your comrades. That outpost was filled with recruits who could barely wipe their own asses and you’ve beaten them without a second thought.”

“Says the man prepared to sacrifice his men to save his own ass,” Levi sneers. “Besides, they’ve only been tied up so why don’t you stop avoiding my questions and answer me. Where are Eren and Krista?”

“You scum! You think you scare me? I’m part of the Interior Police!”

He kicks the man’s jaw. Hard.

“I recommend you start talking while you’re still able to use that filthy mouth of yours or I might just break your jaw off permanently.” The bloodied man’s breath hitches and his eyes widen in fear, knowing Levi wasn’t bluffing in the very least. “Now I’ll say this one more time, where are Eren and Krista?”

“It’s no use, they’ll be dead by morning. If you don’t turn yourselves in then more will die, starting with your Commander.”

“Everyone in the Survey Corps knows that some Scouts’ lives are more valuable than others. My squad is aware of that,” he growls, whipping out a knife from his boot and pressing it against the man’s throat. “Now for the last fucking time, where are Eren and Krista?”

“The Reiss family chapel! They’re in the Reiss family chapel!” He shouts, eyes filling with fear.

“Who’s in charge of the Interior Police?”

“K- Kenny Ackerman!”

He hears Mikasa gasp from behind him but doesn’t dare to look back, keeping his eyes pinned to the officer beneath him instead.

“Is that his last name?”

“Yes!”

_So, after all these years…_

“I’ve told you everything! Now let me go, please!” The man shrieks, eyes darting all over the place.

“Tch. We’ll leave you tied up for your subordinates to find in the morning. What they do with you is entirely their choice.” Levi murmurs coldly, sending a chill up the man’s spine.

He grabs a piece of cloth from Armin and gags the man, brushing the drool from the man’s mouth on the bottom of his pants afterwards. Begrudgingly, he knows he can’t kill the man but at least this would give them some time to get a head start.

“Get to the cart. We need to get Hange and Moblit before we head to the Reiss family chapel,” he barks, causing them to grab their gear and go.

He only hopes they get there in time.

* * *

“Hm, did you say the Reiss family chapel? I read something odd about it earlier when I was looking through the Scout Investigation Report that Erwin gave me regarding Lord Reiss’ land,” Hange says when Armin tells them where they’re headed off to after picking them up.

“Huh, really?”

Hange nods towards the blond, gently grabbing up the leather-clad journal the Commander handed her before his arrest from her pouch. “It says here that when Wall Maria was breached five years ago, some bandits raided and set fire to the Reiss family chapel. Apparently, the Reiss family was praying there and the fire killed everyone in the Reiss family aside from Rod Reiss, the head of the family, who managed to escape.”

“Hm, I don’t understand Hange. Why do you think that's odd?” Sasha chimes in.

“Well, it turns out that Rod Reiss sought out Historia only a few days after that incident, which was when Historia’s mother was killed by the Interior Police.”

“That seems too suspicious to be a coincidence,” Armin says, earning a nod from Hange.

“What’s even more suspicious is that the chapel was completely wrecked after the incident even though it was made out of stone. A bunch of bandits couldn’t do that by themselves, let alone in just one night. Besides, bandits would just have taken what they can see and escape quickly.” Hange says, flipping the journal to a marked page where it explained the state of the chapel after the incident.

“Let me guess, Rod Reiss was the only one who saw the bandits,” Levi says with a raised eyebrow to which Hange nods in response.

“There must be something special with the Reiss’ lineage that pushed Rod Reiss to seek out Historia after the incident,” Armin says.

“Yes, I think so too. But what worries me right now is what they want with Eren,” Hange murmurs, glancing towards Mikasa who has her hands clenched into fists angrily. “Hm, do you know anything about this Kenny who’s leading the Interior Police?”

Levi nods. “I’m related to him.”

“Captain? Does that mean…” Jean gasps from behind the reins.

“Yes. I’m an Ackerman too.” He says, glancing at Mikasa who’s staring at him blankly now. “Kenny raised me when I used to live in the Underground. He never told me who he was or his last name, but I remember him mentioning my mother’s name as his sister when he thought I wasn’t awake. But he left when I was 14 and I never saw him again after that.”

“That means you and Mikasa are-“

“Distantly related.” Mikasa finishes softly for Connie who smiles sheepishly at her.

In one night Levi and Mikasa, previously the only remaining members of their families, had gained a distant cousin. Someone who they were related to by blood.

Funny how things turn out.

“Eh, then it’s no surprise why you are so good at combat! Must be something in your Ackerman blood!” Hange exclaims, intrigued with the revelation. “We could do some experiments and test out-“

Levi clamps Hange’s mouth with Connie’s hand, refusing to get any of Hange’s drool on his own hand but desperate to get her to stop talking. “You come anywhere near me with a syringe and you lose a hand.” He scowls, glancing at Mikasa who has a similar look on her face.

“No need to get so testy Levi, you know I’m just joking around… partly.” She jokes. “Anyway, how good is your uncle anyway? If he’s an Ackerman then we must assume he’ll be as good as you in combat.”

“He taught me everything I know.”

Connie and Sasha look at each other nervously and gulp from the back of the cart, palms sweating and eyes widening in fear. If this Kenny taught Levi how to fight when he was a kid then he must be even better than Levi now!

“Oi, don’t fucking piss your pants. No matter how good he is, he’s still just one man.”

“The Captain’s right. We’ll just deal with him when we see him but for now we need to hurry and get to that chapel. If what Eren said is true that a titan inherits a shifter’s power when it eats one then Eren’s in more danger than we thought.”

That gets everyone’s attention.

“Eh? You seriously think they might eat him Hange?” Jean gasps, face devoid of any emotion as he takes in the scientist’s words.

“It’s not like they’ll have a titan ready to eat Eren… right?” Connie murmurs under his breath, furrowing his brows.

“We need to assume that anything is possible at this stage. And if it is true then we need to figure out when and how Eren became a titan and who he ate to gain his titan powers.”

“Tch. We can ask the brat himself when we get him back.” Levi says determinedly, ignoring Hange’s whispered concerns from his side.

“I know that Levi but if we don’t hurry and get there, Eren may end up being eaten!”

“We are all aware of the situation Shitty Glasses. Instead of reminding us of the obvious concerns, why don’t you and coconut head get a solid plan together so that we can actually save that shitty brat and Historia?” He growls, glaring coldly at Hange.

Hange merely smiles softly at Levi and nods, gesturing Armin to sit next to her so they can devise a plan of attack. She was already used to Levi’s harsh words and cold exterior, knowing better than to take anything the Captain said to heart. She knew the Captain cared deeply for his comrades and squad members, and that he had a soft spot for the shifter since the day he was assigned to Levi’s squad which probably prompted Levi’s even colder demeanour. Turning to Armin with a soft smile, she starts telling him her theory about the hidden basement of the chapel as they start brainstorming strategies.

Beside them, Levi lets out a silent huff of air he didn’t know he was holding and forces his attention towards the dark road in front of them instead, the flickering flames from their torches highlighting the shadows of his face while he frowns. He knows he shouldn’t have snapped at Hange but can’t help but feel relieved to have a moment of silence to gather his thoughts. As Captain, he’s aware of his duty to lead his squad and keep a level head in the face of trouble but for some reason, he can’t seem shake the anxiety creeping up his spine from the moment Hange mentioned the possibility of Eren being eaten.

That thought never even crossed his mind.

Despite the amount of protection Eren received from the Survey Corps on the orders of Levi and Erwin in their previous missions, Levi always felt reassured to know that Eren had regenerating abilities. It was a small consolation for the amount of pressure the shifter received because of his titan powers but at least it one less thing Levi had to worry about. Sure, he had to keep an eye on the brat to make sure he wasn’t too heavily injured but the brat could hold his ground and Levi felt at ease with that.

But not this.

Could it be possible? Would he lose Eren because of his titan powers?

If they took Eren for his titan powers then why did they take Historia too? What was Historia’s role in all of it?

And who’s orders was Kenny following?

_All these years and now you return just to make my life hell. You piece of shit._


	5. Chapter 5

“KENNY!” Levi roars, a fresh swell of rage rising through him as he shoots his hooks into the crystal walls, hurling himself towards the smug man watching him from above.

“I thought I smelled a filthy rat around here somewhere. Decided to finally come out, little rodent?” Kenny smirks, dodging Levi as he moves to another wall.

“Tch. Enough talk, old man. No one wants to hear you spew shit.” Levi growls.

“Big words for such a little man. Oh, I’m sorry, I completely forgot! Captain Levi is it?” Kenny jests, throwing back his head to let out a humourless laugh. “I never would have thought a little rat like you would end up as Humanity’s Strongest Soldier.”

“That’s ironic coming from you. You’ve gone from killing MPs to becoming one. Which idiot was stupid enough to trust a treacherous bastard like you?”

“The King, of course!” He boasts, grinning smugly as he puffs his chest out proudly.

Levi, who watches the man in front of him silently with a deadpan look set on his face, internally cringes at the ridiculous gesture. Was this really the same Kenny that taught him how to use a knife and fight in the Underground all those years ago? He looks the same as he did a few years ago, aside from a few wrinkles and scars, but seems so unfamiliar to Levi and behaved so differently from the bitter man that raised him.

“Eh, I mean the true king of the Walls, you runt. Not that fake piece of shit sitting on the throne.” Kenny adds.

Now that catches his attention.

“Tch, you mean Rod Reiss? He’s no better than that fraud with the way he’s been neglecting his responsibilities.”

“You don’t even know half of the things I do Levi. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“I don’t give two shits about his plans. The only thing I want is my squad members back. If Reiss wanted Historia back so badly then why couldn’t he just asked her to come back and why the fuck did he take Eren too? What does he want from him?” Levi questions the man impatiently, a low growl crawling up his throat.

“Let’s just say that your shifter stole something from the King and he intends to take it back. I hope he wasn’t too important for the Survey Corps because you sure as hell aren’t getting him back.”

Gritting his teeth, Levi pushes off the wall and shoots across the cavern towards Kenny, rage fueling his every move as he slices the older man’s abdomen swiftly, cursing inwardly at the shallow cut. In a flash, Levi drops below Kenny and uses his gas to propel him upwards and swings his blade towards the man, who blocks it with the barrel of his gun.

“You sure are a spunky one, damn. And it seems like your squad is holding their ground too.” Kenny mutters, gesturing to the farther side of the cave where he feels bursts of hot air coming from, all part of Hange’s plan.

Now he just needs to get to Kenny and kill the fucker.

“Levi, watch out!” Hange shouts as Sasha aims an arrow at a barrel of oil below him.

Kenny, unaware of what was going on, raises an eyebrow when he sees Levi withdraws in a flash, getting as much distance between him and the barrel as possible before he hears the loud explosion.

“Levi, are you okay?” Hange asks hurriedly as she lands next to him.

Levi doesn’t say a word but grabs Hange’s arm in an instant, dragging her with him as he manoeuvres along the crystal pillars when he senses the other man headed towards them. As predicted, Kenny, burns now running up the side of his body and face, lands on the wall Levi was previously tethered to and scowls at his nephew from the distance.

It would’ve been too easy for him to die like that. For anyone else, sure, maybe. But not Kenny Ackerman. For him to die, it would have to be by Levi’s hand. That much he knew for certain.

“Go help the others. I’ve got this,” Levi says to Hange, who nods earnestly before flying away.

Switching blades, Levi shoots his hooks onto the crystal pillar near the older Ackerman and throws himself under him, attempting to slice through Kenny’s feet with his blades but misses by an inch when Kenny pulls back and shoots at him.

Levi diverts, shooting his hooks behind him onto another crystal pillar and uses the momentum to hurl himself backwards. He throws the pouch resting on his belt towards Kenny who, unaware of the oil filling it, keeps shooting at Levi until a bullet pierces it, causing it to explode into flames. The rush of heat emanating from the flames causes Kenny to recoil immediately, his previous burns still singeing his skin painfully,

Levi, however, has different plans.

He zooms through the flames unflinchingly and swings his blade towards Kenny, who deflects it as Levi predicted, before slashing Kenny’s abdomen using his other blade. The older man lets out a pained gasp when he feels the cool blade enter his body, clutching the deep cut on his abdomen instantly to slow the bleeding.

“You bastard,” he mutters when he sees the blood rapidly stain his white shirt. Fully aware of his disadvantaged state, Kenny pushes Levi away from him using his feet and zips away from the younger man in retreat, causing Levi to growl.

_You fucking coward._

However, just as Levi moves to follow the other man, a blinding flash of green light and the bellowing sound of thunder fills the cave, causing Levi to stop and stiffen.

 _Eren._

Levi’s already racing towards the sound in a second, dodging the pieces of crystal falling from the ceiling as he makes his way through the crumbling pillars. He sees the rest of his squad on the bottom of the cave and heads towards them. Just as he’s about to land, he spots Hange, unconscious, in Moblit’s arms.

As if everything wasn’t falling apart already.

“Captain! The cave’s about to fall apart!” Connie yells, pointing at the shattering pillars around them. “There’s no way out!”

“There! We can get out through that hole.” Armin shouts over the noise, pointing towards a small hole in the ceiling.

“Okay. Berner, Arlert, get Hange out of here. The rest of you come with me. We need to get Historia and Eren,” Levi barks before shooting his hooks towards the end of the cave where the green light came from.

Zooming through the cave, he can hear the whizzing sound of ODM gear behind him, his squad following his trail as he urges himself to go faster. To get to Eren faster.

“Captain!” Sasha shrieks as she sees the red, giant titan forming in the middle of the cavern.

Oh. This isn’t Eren.

So where is he?

“It’s too big! It’ll bring the cave down.” Jean says, whipping his head towards Levi who ignores their squabbling and searches for the titan shifter instead.

_Where are you, you shitty br-_

Raw anger shoots through Levi when he finally spots Eren on his knees with chains attaching his limbs to the crystal walls of the cave, blood covering his face, making the anguished look in those emerald green eyes stand out more.

_I’m going to kill him._

“EREN!” Mikasa shouts.

“Historia, get out of here! You have to let him eat me. I deserve it! It’s my fault Frieda’s gone!” Levi hears the chained man shout when he sees Historia move to unchain his feet.

Just as she frees Eren’s right foot, a sudden gust of air from the titan flings her towards the wall only to be caught by Mikasa, who arrives just in time.

“Give me the keys!” Levi shouts when he lands next to them.

“Captain?” Eren gasps, turning his head to find his Captain and squad assembled behind him.

“You suicidal bastard..” Jean grumbles, grabbing Eren’s arm in place while Levi moves to free his other arm.

“Forget about me, Captain! Just leave me here and escape!” He pleads desperately when Levishoves the keys into Connie’s hands and orders him to free Eren’s other foot.

“Oi. Shut up, brat. We didn’t risk our asses to follow you two just for us to leave you here. Now shut up and hold still so we can free you.” Levi glowers lowly, glaring at the green-eyed man.

_As if I’d leave you to die here, you idiot._

Eren clenches his jaw and looks away from the Captain’s gaze, unable to stand the steely grey eyes piercing into his own green ones, and reluctantly nods, succumbing to the older man’s orders.

Jean, on Eren’s other side, grabs the keys from Connie after Connie finishes with his lock and frees Eren’s other hand before dropping Eren’s arm roughly, grumbling about whiny topless wimps as he walks back towards Sasha with Connie.

“That’s way bigger than the Colossal Titan, right?” Sasha asks from behind Levi, glancing worriedly at Connie and Jean as they shuffle backwards from the titan, wincing as their backs hit the crystal wall surrounding them.

“It’s breaking the ceiling!” Connie shrieks, pointing at the hole around the titan’s forming body.

“Eren, watch out!” Mikasa shouts, arms reaching out towards the shifter when a piece of the crystal ceiling hurtles down on him.

In a flash, Levi grabs him around the waist and pulls him back just as the crystal plummets onto the spot Eren was previously kneeling at, causing Eren to land on top of Levi’s chest with Levi’s arms still wrapped around his waist.

“Captain..” Eren gasps, lifting his head slightly to meet Levi’s concerned gaze. He stays in Levi’s arms, unable - _unwilling_ \- to move his body from the older man’s protective hold and doesn’t shy away from the stormy grey eyes staring down at him.

“Why do you always find yourself in danger, brat?” Levi murmurs softly to the man, eyes shining with concern.

Eren, dumbfounded, tries to hide his shock when he hears the Captain’s soft voice and feels his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. The Captain Levi he knew was cold and unflinching. Sure he cared about his subordinates, but he never gave them any special treatment or showed his affections. Certainly not like this.

Levi, seeing the blush spread on the man’s cheeks, hides his smirk and raises an eyebrow instead. What was the kid so embarrassed about? Levi’s saved his ass on countless occasions but this is definitely a new response.

_I’m glad you’re okay, you brat._

Oblivious to the people around them, they stay in this position for a few more seconds, with Eren on top of Levi’s chest and the Captain’s arms around his waist protectively, both unwilling to tear their eyes away from each other.

That is until a panicked shout breaks their gaze and causes Eren to flinch.

“EREN!”

A strong pair of hands suddenly pulls him away from Levi’s hold, enveloping him into a hug.

“Mikasa, I’m okay,” the man soothes as he hugs the raven-haired woman back, knowing how relentless the woman got over his safety.

“Are you sure?” She asks, pulling back to check for any wounds. Eren simply sighs and nods again, turning back to see Levi looking at them with narrowed eyes. 

“Can you two stop so we can figure a way out of this fucking cave? If you haven’t noticed, there’s no way out and this fucking titan is going to cause the cave to collapse on us!” Jean shouts towards the pair, causing Eren to turn his head towards the fully formed titan in the middle of the cave, head breaking through the cave’s ceiling as it struggles to escape.

What can he do to save them?

Should he transform?

No. His titan couldn’t withstand all of this and he’d just end up killing everyone.

Fuck, why does he keep on getting everyone in danger?

Eren sighs and drops to his knees, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I’m sorry for dragging you all in this. I’ve been nothing but useless. I’m not Humanity’s Hope, that’s all just a fucking lie.”

“Oi. You think you’re some sort of tragic hero? When have you ever accomplished anything by your strength alone?” Jean shouts from his side.

“Yeah, Eren. We’ve been through much worse than this. We can figure out how to navigate our way through this.” Connie says.

“You know, I hate doing to you every time, but..” Levi speaks up, turning his head towards Eren to look at him solemnly. “You’ve got to make the choice Eren.”

_You can do this, brat. I believe in you._

Eren winces at the words and looks away from the man, remembering the last time Levi spoke those same exact words in the Titan Forest before their squad got killed. He’s always blamed himself for their deaths, still convinced that he chose wrong when Levi asked him that same question. But Levi was always there to reassure him otherwise, always told him that he couldn’t have known what would’ve happened. That he needs to choose what he thinks is best.

_“Just do the best you can and choose whatever you’ll regret the least Eren, that’s all anyone can do.”_

It seemed so reasonable when Levi told him that the night they got back from the Titan Forest, but why is he so confused now? If he chooses wrongly then he could kill every-

Armour?

He picks up the bottle from his side, trailing a finger across the label pasted on it.

This was it. This was their way out.

He sees Levi nod supportively when he looks up and tightly grips the bottle hidden in his hand before running away from his squad, into the now vacant spot the other titan was standing in, throwing the bottle into his mouth and biting down on it.

“Eren!” Mikasa screams, held back by Levi who watches the green-eyed man with furrowed brows.

_You can do this kid. Don’t let me down._

And with that, a flash of green light and thunder fills the cave once again.

The familiar 15-meter titan appears in front of them and roars loudly before sitting back on its heels, pressing his fists against the floor of the cave. Suddenly, waves of crystal stream out of the Eren’s titan body, covering the surface of the cave with a new layer of the same exact crystal substance.

“What the..”

“Everyone! Get under Eren!” Levi shouts, as he rushes to stand under the Eren’s legs with the others following closely behind him.

The pillars start to fall apart around them, causing the ceiling to collapse and Levi hears his squad gasp around him as Eren’s titan body becomes encased in the same crystal he was producing. Levi clenches his fist and tries to hide his frown, opting to look at the crystal pillars forming around them, pushing away the fear and worry for the man inside the titan protecting them.

_What the fuck is happening to you?_

After an excruciating 5 minutes pass by, the crystal finally stops forming and everything stands still. The collapsing cave was now set in place by the newly formed pillars, thanks to Eren’s new ability, allowing them to navigate a way out.

“Captain, what should we do now?” Sasha asks, breaking the silence.

“You and Springer find a way out. Make sure to find Hange and the others before coming back.” He orders, earning a nod from Sasha and Connie. Turning towards the rest of his squad, he spares a glance towards the crystallised titan before nodding to Mikasa. “Ackerman, you and I will get Eren out of his titan. Kirstein, stay here with Historia. Who knows if any of those fuckers are alive and decide to come back for more.” They all nod silently, Mikasa shooting her hooks onto the titan’s shoulder before Levi can say another word. Rolling his eyes, Levi follows after her, landing on the upper part of Eren’s nape before driving his blade into the crystallised nape alongside Mikasa.

It takes a few minutes but he can finally see Eren’s brown hair and tells Mikasa to carefully continue carving the hole as he reaches in and grabs the shifter’s shoulder gently. When Mikasa declares that she’s done, Levi carefully pulls the man out of the titan with Mikasa lifting the lower half of Eren’s body when he’s fully freed from the crystallised titan.

_He’s alive. Thank fuck._

Levi takes ahold of the man’s legs from Mikasa’s arms, earning a glare from the woman, but ignores her as he slowly lowers himself down to the floor with Eren in his arms.

“Captain?” Eren calls out weakly, blinking as his eyes adjust to the light.

“I’m here,” Levi whispers, dropping Eren gently on the ground, crouching down beside him. He hears Mikasa cough beside him and turns to see her eyes narrowed to slits. “Tch. You got a problem with me helping him, Ackerman?”

She clenches her jaw and takes a step towards the man, nostrils flaring, until she feels Historia put a hand on her shoulder. “No, sir,” she mutters under her breath when Historia urges her to calm down.

“Eren, are you okay?” Historia asks, easing the tension within the group.

“I’m fine. I just- What happened?”

“Isn’t it obvious enough from what we’re standing in?” Jean asks rhetorically from beside him, raising his eyebrows at the man.

“What Jean means to say is that you managed to harden your body and save us,” Mikasa says, shooting a look at Jean, who rolls his eyes exasperatedly.

“I remember drinking that bottle with Armour labelled on it.”

Levi nods. “That must be how you got your hardening power from. You couldn’t do it at all before now, but in the blink of an eye, you devised and built all of this and saved all of us in the process.”

The shifter lets Levi’s word sink into him, relief flooding into his veins when he realises that he made the right choice.

“In other words, it's possible for us to plug that hole in Wall Maria and Shiganshina now.” Levi adds, causing Eren’s eyes to widen.

Shiganshina. That’s the goal.

“Now we just need to wait for those Connie and Sasha so we can- There they are.” Jean says, pointing towards the pair descending down the cave.

“Captain, we’ve secured an exit.” Connie says, as they land a few feet away from the group.

“Good work you two.” He says towards the two of them.

They have a way out but…

Levi turns his head towards Eren, still crouched beside the kneeling man. He wishes there was more time for the brown-haired man to rest and regain his strength, but they needed to finish off that other titan before it eats anyone.

 _Fuck it, he’ll just get some rest on the cart then._

Levi sighs and stands up, facing the rest of his squad. “Let’s go then. We’re going after that big ass titan.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sometimes, the truth isn’t what you bargained for.

That was something Eren learned for himself back in that cave. And to say he feels ashamed would be a massive understatement.

Since discovering his shifting abilities, Eren had become both Humanity’s Hope and a monster, depending on who he asked. All this time, everyone was convinced that Eren was Humanity’s Hope, telling him how special he was and how he was meant to save them - and truthfully, he let them. Maybe a part of him likes being needed, likes having something that makes him special and valuable to his squad, similar to how Mikasa has her inhuman strength and Armin with his intelligence.

But the one thing he didn’t count on was what his responsibility entailed and all the sacrifices other people had to make for him.

Eren had hoped that he could start using his titan abilities to help the scouts in their expeditions when he officially joined them - it was the least he could do to prevent all those deaths he used to witness when the scouts came back from their expeditions through Shiganshina as a child. He understood the precautions they took when Eren went with them, and even though it made him feel like a monster, he didn’t mind as much because at least he was finally had the Wings of Freedom on his back and became a part of Squad Levi.

That is until they met the Female Titan…

It was then that he felt anger towards his superior officers. Anger towards Commander Erwin and Captain Levi for letting so many scouts lay down their lives to protect him during the expedition. Even if he didn’t have a good grip on his titan abilities yet, at least he could’ve tried to save them or tried to do anything other than just stand by helplessly as he watched his comrades get killed.

But he couldn’t. He wasn’t allowed to. Because he was too precious - too much of an asset for them to risk losing.

And because of what? His own father’s doing. His father, the man who killed those innocent children before passing on his titan abilities to Eren, leaving Eren to finish his job.

Eren was never special - he didn’t do all those great things because he was extraordinary in any sort of way. He hated to admit it but Jean had a point. When did he ever accomplish anything by his strength alone? He was eaten on his first mission in Trost if it weren’t for his titan powers, and even with his powers he was still almost killed by the Female Titan in the Titan Forest.

How was he supposed to face his comrades, knowing how much they have lost to keep him alive? If his father was still alive then maybe they would’ve had a better chance at defeating the titans. He obviously knew more about shifters and the mindless titans roaming outside the walls. So why did he leave this burden on Eren? How could he expect Eren to finish the job for him?

_Well, here’s my chance to make things right._

Eren raises his head to look at his squad, elbow resting on his knees, and sees Jean, Sasha, Connie, and Mikasa sitting tensely on their horses, faces strewing with confusion and concern.Turning his head slowly, Eren risks a peek at the raven-haired man riding next to the cart beside him and tries not to flinch when he sees the steely grey eyes trained on him.

Levi, fully aware of the emotional turmoil the shifter was in, meets the other man’s gaze and frowns when he sees the muscles bunched in the younger man’s jaw.

“We still have an option,” Eren says suddenly as he turns away from Levi, breaking their eye contact. “If that titan eats me, Rod Reiss will return to human. Which means it’s still possible to have a true Founding Titan again, just like the First King intended."

“Eren, you can’t…” Mikasa gasps, snapping her head towards Eren, eyes widening in fear.

“Just hear me out. This is the only way we can make him undo the First King’s brainwashing. If we can do that, it might open a path to save humanity.” Eren reasons, voice filled with resolution.

“Even if it means killing yourself?” Mikasa cries, frowning at the brown-haired man.

“Who cares about that Mikasa!? So many soldiers have died to keep me alive and if this is my chance to repay them for their sacrifices then I’m taking it.”

“But-“

“Stop it, Mikasa! We have a solution right in front of us and you want to argue because I have to give my life up for it?” Eren snaps, glaring at the woman riding in front of him.

“Eren, are you saying you’re fully prepared to let that happen?” Levi asks, raising his eyebrow at the younger man.

He turns towards the raven-haired man, trying to keep himself from faltering under the Captain’s gaze. “I am.”

“Captain, you aren’t actually going along with this right?” Armin stammers, glancing worriedly at the two men staring at each other.

“Tch. Of course I’m not.” Levi huffs, irked at the seemingly stupid question.

“But Captain-“

“Did it ever occur to you that the bastard might be bluffing?” Levi snaps, looking at Eren annoyedly. “What if he just said all of that shit so you’d willingly let Historia eat you?

“As if Historia would do that,” Connie murmurs from the side, rolling his eyes in disbelief.

“I almost did…” She says, hesitating when she feels everyone’s eyes on her. “Under the Reiss chapel, I really considered becoming a Titan and eating Eren but I realised that I only wanted to do that for my father. Because I wanted to believe him and… because I didn’t want my father to hate me.” Historia whispers, voice thick with remorse, causing the others to flinch.

“The Captain might be right, Eren. I wouldn’t put it past him to lie about the Founding Titan’s abilities, seeing how desperate he was for Historia to take it from you.” Armin interjects, breaking the uncomfortable tension within the group.

Eren hears Hange sigh and turns to see the brown-haired scientist deep in thought as she lays on the floor of the cart, still recovering from her injuries. “Why don’t we break this down before we make any decisions?” Hange says, smiling softly at Eren before continuing. “So you’re saying that Rod Reiss wanted Historia to take the Founding Titan from you so that the Reiss family can keep brainwashing us right?”

Eren nods, partly annoyed that they were going over this again but follows along to satisfy the woman.

“The First King erased everyone’s memory using the Founding Titan’s abilities and made everyone in his family swear to protect it and keep our memories erased to ensure peace within the walls. That’s why the Founding Titan’s been in the Reiss family for generations.”

“Yes, but what peace though?” Hange wonders exasperatingly, looking towards the enormous red titan crawling towards Orvud district. “Is this is peace according to the First King?”

No. Of course it’s not. Eren doesn’t know what the hell the First King had in mind when he told the Reiss family to keep the peace because this couldn’t be farther away from peace and he’s sure that Freida and whoever had it before her had no intentions to help change anything whatsoever.

“Captain Levi’s right,” Historia declares, causing Eren to whip his head and gape at the blonde. Out of everyone, Historia was the last person he’d expect to talk him out of his idea. “All we’ve ever known are destructive pacifists. But as it stands, the Founding Titan was taken from them. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for humanity.” She continues, her voice hardening as she continues to speak, turning her gaze towards Eren. “Your father was trying to save us and humanity itself, Eren. He stole the Founding Titan from my sister and killed all those Reiss children because he had no other choice.”

“She’s right Eren! The Dr. Jaeger I knew wouldn’t do something like that for no reason. He must’ve known you would figure out a way to control your titan abilities to save humanity! That’s why he left you that key to your basement.” Armin insists, smiling reassuringly at the brown-haired man.

The basement.

Eren moves his hand and grasps the small golden key dangling around his neck instinctively, inhaling sharply when the cool metal presses against his palm.

_Dad, is this what you had in mind when you decided to leave your titan to me?_

“Eh? What basement are you guys talking about?” Sasha asks, scratching the back of her head. “Oh, that whole thing the Commander was talking about during the initiation ceremony? Was thatactually important?”

Jean and Connie sigh simultaneously, sparing Sasha a tired glance. “Of course it is, Sasha…”

“For all we know, Rod Reiss could use the Founding Titan’s abilities to erase our memories again if he eats Eren and turns back into human. And who knows, maybe he really was just lying and Eren can eventually figure out a way to control the Founding Titan’s abilities?” Armin says, returning everyone’s attention back to the situation at hand.

“Either way, it’s too much of a risk to give Eren up in exchange for Rod Reiss.” Hange cuts in, causing everyone to nod in agreement. “And I don’t know about everyone else, but I’ve gotten far too fond of my little titan for him to be killed.” She murmurs, smiling softly at the shifter who takes her hand in his and gives it a gentle squeeze.

Despite how eccentric the woman was, she always cared for Eren and loved that he’d let her ramble on about her theories when no one cared and let her run all sorts of experiments on him. And Eren, in turn, was glad to have Hange around from his very first day with the Survey Corps, seeking solace in the only friendly face amid all the suspicious scouts afraid of his shifting ability. Between her and Captain Levi, Eren had always felt safer shifting when they were around to control him and fix him up afterwards.

“Tch. No need for you to get sappy, Four Eyes. The brat’s not going anywhere,” Levi mutters from Eren’s side, rolling his eyes at the brown-haired pair.

“Alright, alright,” Hange surrenders, patting Eren’s hand softly before moving to sit up. “Can’t blame a woman for getting attached, Levi” She coos as she raises her eyebrow at the Captain teasingly, eliciting a scowl from the man.

“Okay, so what should we do about this then?” Connie asks, pointing at the wall they, and the titan, were closing in on.

“I think we should leave that up to the Commander. I’m sure he has a plan all cooked up,” Hange says, mouth twisting with fervour.

* * *

They’re up on the outer wall of Orvud district, tying up ropes to create a large net for the barrels of gunpowder they’ve gathered to kill Rod Reiss’ titan with. They were relying on the titan not to have a mouth like Commander Erwin estimated so that they’ll be able to blow the nape using the gunpowder, which is a large gamble but Erwin’s plans always came down to a gamble one way or another.

“How should we do this? Let’s see…” Hange mumbles to herself, toying with a pair of ODM gear while Moblit, Jean, Sasha, and Connie run to guard the right side of the wall. “Ah, here we go!” She exclaims, calling everyone to gather around so she can explain the contraption she’s built. A small cart stood to her side, carrying a barrel of gunpowder tied securely to it and two metal spears coming out of the cart by the sides. “Now, the triggers are held in place so when it’s fired it will wind itself back up just like ODM gear!” Hange explains, gesturing to the ODM gear attached to the cart.

“Good work, Hange. Now all of you get back to work, that titan will reach us soon enough.” Erwin says, nodding at Hange before leaving the group to talk to Historia privately.

Shrugging, Eren walks to the edge of the wall and continues to tie up the ropes in silence. He peers down the wall and looks onto the streets and buildings of Orvud district and spots three children running along the streets. Below him, he sees a hot-headed boy shouting at his two friends, another frail boy and a quiet girl, and he feels his mouth twitch at the sight.

_How did we get from there to here?_

“Hey Armin,” he calls out to the blond stacking boxes behind him. “The kids in this city remind me of us on that day.”

Armin looks over the wall to see the three kids and smiles sadly towards Eren. “Yeah, nobody ever thinks today is the day a titan bigger than the wall attacks.” He turns away, sighing, and walks over to the boxes to continue stacking them. “They might end up seeing the same sight as we did that day. But at least they know that there are soldiers who are ready to face the titan on the wall - and that’s us.”

Eren feels his stomach tighten at Armin’s words and struggles to hide a frown. How are they going to stop this titan based on a gamble the Commander made? And if worse comes to worst, could he stop Rod Reiss’ titan by himself?

“Eren, there’s no time to stop. Keep your hands busy.” Mikasa chides, walking over with a barrel of gunpowder in her arms.

He ignores her, staring quietly at the buildings below him as he remembers the day Shiganshina fell and how completely helpless he felt to see his mother get eaten by a titan.

And then he punches himself.

One. Two. Three.

“EREN!” He hears Mikasa shout behind him.

He ignores their shouts. He can’t stop now.

Four. Five.

“Hey!” Armin shouts just as Mikasa grabs Eren’s arms, restraining him. “Are you making a wound? It’s too early for that!” He shrieks worriedly, seeing the trail of blood dripping from the green-eyed man’s nose.

“Oi! What the hell is going on?”

“Captain Levi!” Armin gasps, as the older man starts walking towards them, eyes narrowed into slits as he takes in the shifter’s appearance. “Uh, it’s nothing, sir! We’ve got it handled.” He reassures him, smiling tightly at the Captain.

“Tch. Doesn’t look like it.” He huffs at the blonde, glancing at Eren who uses his elbow to wipe the blood trailing down his nose. “You two get back to work, we don’t have time to waste. I’ll handle him.” He says, shooting a look at the woman to show he wasn’t in the mood to argue.

“Yes, sir.” They both mutter in unison, reluctantly leaving their friend in the hands of the cold, older man with a last, lingering glance.

Levi sighs when they’re out of earshot and turns to grab Eren’s arm, dragging him farther away from their comrades. “Just what the hell were you trying to do?” He hisses under his breath, scowling at the expressionless man in front of him.

“Nothing, sir. Just beating the shit out of a useless brat.” Eren mutters, looking up to meet Levi’s grey eyes.

Levi looks taken aback, shocked to see how dim the man’s green eyes had become, so unlike the Eren Jaeger he’s gotten to know. “Tch. Stop being so overdramatic and tell me what’s on your mind, brat.”

He tilts his head and looks at the older man, trying to figure out whether Levi was being sincere or not. The older man, however, stays composed under the shifter’s gaze, only offering a raised eyebrow to indicate that he was waiting for him to start talking.

Deciding to go along with Levi’s words, Eren brushes a hand through his hair and sits down at the edge of the wall with a heavy sigh. “Somewhere along the line, I thought I was special. Why is why when those scouts died for my sake, I accepted it like it was natural.” Eren whispers hoarsely, eyes staring into the distance. “Don’t get me wrong, I hated Erwin for letting those soldiers die for me when we met the Female Titan and I wished I disobeyed your orders and shifted earlier to at least try and save Petra and the others,” he quickly adds, voice now filled with venom.

He feels Levi stiffen beside him but doesn’t spare a glance, not wanting to break under the grey eyes he’s gotten used to seeing. “Do you resent me? For not letting you shift back then?” He hears Levi ask, turning his head to see the older man sitting down beside him, legs dangling over the edge of the wall.

“No. Of course not.” He huffs, staring incredulously at the man as if he had two heads.

“Why not?”

“Captain..” He starts, frowning at the raven-haired man. Eren had seen a glimpse of Levi’s softer side down in the caves and was comforted to know that the Captain trusted and cared about him enough for him to let his guard down. But now, looking at the tense man sitting beside him, Eren’s hand itched to grab Levi’s hand to give some semblance of comfort and reassurance but had to stop himself. He didn’t want to scare away the Captain for good and he knew that the Captain didn’t like anyone touching him, let alone a shitty brat like him. “You were following your orders, sir. We both were. I know how much you cared for our squad. I’m only sorry I wasn’t quick enough to save them.” Levi only nods, and Eren takes it as a cue to keep on going. “It was the same for my titan powers. I hate titans more than anything in the world but when I became one, I thought nothing of it. I wanted to believe that strength was all mine so I didn’t question it.” He says, clenching his fists angrily before he continues. “But that’s exactly what a weakling thinks.”

“Oi. Will you stop feeling sorry for yourself? Everyone deals with their own shit and you are just as strong as anyone within the Survey Corps, if not stronger.” Levi scolds, frowning at the younger man. “Do you think anyone else would be able to handle the shit storm you’ve been through? You’re an idiot and a suicidal maniac like Kirstein says most of the time but you’re head-strong and determined as fuck which is why you managed to place in the Top 10 in the Training Corps before you even discovered your titan powers.” He says calmly, eyes softening at the familiar glint coming back into Eren’s emerald green eyes. “Besides, no one aside from you would be brave and stupid enough to look me in the eyes and shout about wanting to kill titans while they were still in chains like some feral dog, you shitty brat.” He muses, smirking at the blush spreading on Eren’s cheeks.

Shit. Eren shies away from the Captain’s gaze, too embarrassed to meet his eyes, and twiddles his fingers anxiously as he stares at his feet.

_Why does the Captain make me so nervous?_

“Oi, you done having your pity party or what?”

“I am, sir, but…” He trails off, unsure whether to continue or not. “What’ll happen if I’m able to plug up the wall? Will that be enough to save everyone?”

Levi shrugs, raising an eyebrow at the younger man. “Who knows. It’ll depend on what we find in your basement and then it’ll be up to Eyebrows to decide where we go from there.”

“What if it’s not enough? What if I can’t control the Founding Titan’s abilities? I’m not special, I’m nobody. But it’s all of humanity that got the short end of the stick - being stuck with me as their trump card.” He mutters under his breath, dropping his head dejectedly. “I… I just don’t want to disappoint you and the others, sir.” He breathes out, feeling the weight finally lift from his chest as he lets out the whispered confession.

Levi’s breath hitches and Eren feels soft fingertips tilting his chin up, forcing him to meet the raven-haired man’s grey eyes, now soft and filled with concern. “You haven’t disappointed me this far and as long as you promise to fight with whatever you’ve got then you don’t have to worry about disappointing me.” He murmurs softly, causing Eren’s heart to clench in his chest. “I have to believe that someone so hell-bent at getting under my skin as you are is either special or just damn suicidal. And I won’t have you risking your life so carelessly when I’ve been there to save your ass over and over again, got it?”

“Captain…”

“Now come on brat, that titan’s coming this way and it’s not waiting for you to finish yourlittle meltdown.” He says, raising an eyebrow expectantly as he stands up and brushes the dirt off his pants.

_Now that’s the Captain Levi I know._

Eren chuckles softly and nods before following the man back towards their group, newfound hope and determination coursing through his veins.

_I won’t let you down, Captain._


	7. Chapter 7

The few weeks after the Survey Corps’ successfully defeated Rod Reiss’ titan were filled with both celebration and hard work for Eren and his friends.

After dealing the death blow to the giant titan, Historia’s brave performance earned her the people’s support which solidified her claim to the throne. For her first act as Queen, Historia sought to eliminate any corruption within the military branches and reshape the government in favour of creating a more harmonious society within the walls, which was a large improvement from the fraudulent King’s rule. True to her word, she also built a new orphanage to take care of the orphans and needy from the Underground to the edge of the walls, determined to help the people who needed her the most, regardless of who they are and where they came from.

Having been raised in the Underground himself, Captain Levi also supported her and voluntarily offered to lend his squad to help around with anything she needed for the orphanage, seeing how they were granted leave for a few weeks by the Commander. As if he’d let them run off doing fuck knows what on their break, being the rambunctious idiots that they were.

Eren, however, wasn’t as lucky.

As humanity’s biggest weapon and their only shifter, Eren didn’t have the luxury to take a break from his responsibilities, and instead, had to remain at the old Survey Corps‘ HQ with Levi and Hange to train his titan abilities. Hange was ecstatic, to say the least, when she was given the go-ahead from Erwin to run trials on Eren’s newly-acquired hardening ability, and spent every day from sun up till sundown with the green-eyed shifter, parading him with endless questions when they weren’t running trials outside.

This continued for weeks and Eren, to Hange’s delight, showed tremendous improvement with his new ability as the days went on. Under the scientist’s guidance, Eren was now able to redirect his hardening abilities towards separate parts of his body, similar to what they saw the Female Titan do, as well as fully hardening his titan.

Watching Eren pull himself out from the fleshy tendons connecting him to the large titan over and over again was disconcerting. Levi could see the determination shining behind the man’s green eyes as they ran through the experiments each day but was heedful of the dark bags growing underneath them, marred by the familiar red markings from Eren’s titan. Despite the number of trials they ran each day, Eren seemed to have pushed through any pain or exhaustion he might have felt, because Levi never heard him complain once and chose to keep watch from afar but remained close enough to come to Eren’s aid when needed _-_ which, thankfully, he didn’t.

Hange, albeit as observant as they were, was too wrapped up in his new powers to realise the toll the trials were taking on the green-eyed shifter’s body. It was only when Eren had started to sway slightly after detaching himself from the hardened Titan that Hange told him to take a break, also unnerved by the reprimanding glare sent her way from the Captain, as if scolding her for getting too carried away.

Yet, it was all worth it. With Eren’s fully controlled hardening ability, they were now able to plug the hole in Shiganshina and Wall Maria. Which meant they would be able to go to his basement and see what his father left him.

Not only that, with Eren’s new ability, a certain anti-titan weapon was also born.

“NOW!”

The log comes crashing down the side of the wall, plunging deeply into the titan’s nape and destroys it on impact.

Hange, watching intently from the top of the wall, squeals with joy and runs to the edge of the wall to see the titan’s body slowly disintegrate. “A direct hit on the nape! We did it! That’s a 12-meter crushed!” She exclaims, pumping her fists up excitedly.

It worked.

Eren’s hardened titan body enabled their soldiers to lure and kill titans swiftly and safely, without having to risk their lives. All of it wasn’t for nothing and they finally had the upper hand.

Eren falls to his knees beside Levi and plants his hands on the wall, catching Levi’s eyes and causes him to glance worriedly at the man. “We did it…” Eren whispers in disbelief. He keeps his head down with his eyes planted onto the cracks in the wall beneath him but Levi can see the shudder that trails up the younger man’s body and steps closer to him cautiously.

“With this, we can kill titans without a single soldier fighting! We’ll hack down the titans all day and night!” Hange continues to the side, infecting the crowd of soldiers with her excitement. “Say hello to the executioner from hell!” She shouts, eliciting a cheer of support from the soldiers surrounding her.

Tuning out all the excitement, Levi notices a small droplet of blood drip down the shifter’s nose and onto the wall beneath him. His eyes narrow annoyedly and he crouches down beside the kneeling man, laying a hand on the man’s shoulder cautiously. “Eren,” he murmurs worriedly, struggling to hide his frown as he sees the trail of blood dripping down the man’s nose when he turns his head towards Levi. “Here, use this,” Levi says as he hands Eren his white handkerchief from the pocket of his pants.

“Thank you, sir,” Eren mutters, offering a small smile before accepting the handkerchief from Levi’s hand.

“We did it! Eren!” Hange continues shouting, completely oblivious to the scene behind her. She turns around to search for the man in question and, instead, finds the man on his knees with a bloodied handkerchief pressed against his nose and Levi crouched beside him. “Eren?”

Levi ignores Hange and keeps his eyes locked onto the man beside him, the white handkerchiefin his hand now stained with blood. The younger man’s breath turns shallow and Levi can see the colour draining from Eren’s usually bright green eyes, creating a strong urge for Levi to move closer to the younger man.

He desperately wanted to take Eren away from all of this bullshit so that the kid could get some rest. Eren was always pushing himself to the brink of death when he had a goal in mind, and Levi couldn’t help but get annoyed at the brown-haired woman as well for taking advantage of Eren’s determinedness and forgetting to keep him in check.

When he sees Eren release his hold on his nose to answer Hange, Levi huffs and pushes the handkerchief back on his nose, scowling at Eren when he notices a few drops of blood staining the man’s light green shirt. “He probably overused his titan powers. All he’s done is hardening experiments lately,” he states coldly, dragging his eyes away from Eren to glare at the scientist.

“Sorry, Eren,” Hange says, cautiously eyeing the overprotective Captain in intrigue.

She definitely did not see that coming.

“There’s nothing to apologise for, Hange,” Eren says, dropping his hand away from his nose when he sees the bleeding has stopped. “Who gives a damn if I’m tired? Let’s make more weapons and get going to Shiganshina.”

Levi can’t help but scowl at the man. Of course Eren would say that. He didn’t give a damn about his own health and was too focused on being the military’s weapon. Which was, ironically, what most people said about Levi.

But this is different.

Eren’s different.

He’s too valuable to get killed for something as reckless as not being able to fight properly from overexerting himself. He’s just a kid. Only 18 and already has the world on his shoulders. Not that Levi was any different, he was only 21 when he was given the title of Humanity’s Strongest Soldier.But at least he wasn’t poked and prodded by some crazy titan-loving scientist and forced to transform his body into a 15-meter titan multiple times a day.

Fuck, he didn’t know how the kid was still standing with the amount of shit he had to do every day.

“Tch. Don’t be stupid, you shitty brat.” Levi grumbles.

“With all due respect Captain, this isn’t me being stupid. This is me knowing my place as a soldier and choosing to focus on our mission.”

Levi’s eyes narrow into slits. He stands up and watches the younger man stare into his eyes indignantly, daring the raven-haired man to respond.

He wasn’t wrong, of course - Levi would do the same thing if he were in Eren’s position. But that didn’t mean he’d let the idiot go through with it. The kid listened to one too many of Erwin’s speeches and convinced himself that his life was expendable for the sake of humanity.

It was Levi’s shitty luck, really. His shitty luck for being stupid enough to care about this shitty brat’s well-being. His even shittier luck that the shitty brat he cares about has a fucking death wish and only cares about killing titans.

Well fuck.

Biting back a snarl, he grabs Eren’s collar and throws Eren backwards harshly, earning him a gruff groan from the green-eyed man. “If I hear another word from that stupid mouth of yours, I’ll kick you off this wall myself,” Levi threatens when he sees Eren’s scowl as he gets to his feet. “We’re done for today. You’re coming with me.”

Glancing at Hange, who gives Eren a supportive nod, Eren sighs quietly and follows the raven-haired man onto one of the lifts, silently dreading what’s in store for him when they got back to HQ.

Probably more cleaning, knowing the Captain.

* * *

The ride back to the old Survey Corps’ HQ is a silent one. Everything that was said hangs in the air between the two and neither men show any inclination to make amends, preferring to focus on the sea of trees separating them from their destination, leaving only the sound of hoofbeats to fill the tense atmosphere between them.

Eren manages to keep his face impassive throughout the ride, squaring his shoulders while keeping his body and head erect on his horse, not wanting to show how bothered he actually was to his Captain beside him.

It was unprofessional, and unbelievably jarring, how different the Captain’s behaviour could be when it came to the younger man. And this time, Eren thought Levi was out of line. While he normally would accept the older man’s insults and apologise for talking back, Eren couldn’t bring himself to say anything to the cold man after they left the top of the wall, and instead felt betrayed by how unreasonable Levi was being.

And it just served to confuse Eren even more.

Eren found himself sent over the edge when he saw how much the grey-eyed man’s attitude towards him had changed over the past few weeks and couldn’t help but feel irked at the newest development.

Although he was initially shocked at how soft the Captain was when he rescued Eren underneath the Reiss chapel and then again when he had his meltdown, Eren welcomed it with open arms. He had always looked up to the raven-haired man and became even more devoted to him after the deaths of Petra and the others, which was when he first saw how much their deaths affected the normally stoic Captain and felt a flicker of attachment towards the man. But just as Eren thought their relationship was developing, Levi suddenly became detached, even more so than usual, during the few weeks they spent at the old Survey Corps’ HQ, only speaking to Eren when absolutely necessary.

And now this.

He didn’t know what he did or said to warrant such a harsh reaction from the man and couldn’t help but fight back. It was weeks of pent-up anger and frustration that made him both brave and foolish enough to talk back to the cold, older man. To hell with it though, Eren wouldn’t just sit back and let the older man walk all over him now that he’s broken down a wall underneath the Reiss chapel.

“Oi. Look alive brat, we’re here.”

Levi’s voice breaks his train of thoughts and he looks up to find them approaching the large gates of the large castle. It was deserted, save for the three of them, Moblit, the rest of Hange’s squad, and some of the kitchen crew. As they approach the stable, they swiftly dismount and lead their horses towards their stalls, shifting some well-earned hay for their horses to eat after their journey.

When they finish, the two men stand in silence and stare at each other, both still stubbornly choosing to stay silent out of spite. Eren waits for the older man to say something and stares impassively into Levi’s eyes.

Stubborn little shit, isn’t he?

Levi sighs and gestures for the man to follow him before he walks off into the castle, leading Eren through a series of hallways until they arrive at an unfamiliar door.

Was this?

It couldn’t be.

Levi opens the door and walks in, leaving the door open behind him for Eren but finds the tense man hesitating in the middle of the doorway.

“Oi. What the hell are you standing there for? Get in.” Levi scowls, rolling his eyes as the man shuffles his feet into the room.

As soon as Eren enters the room, he’s hit with the overwhelming smell of cleaning products and tea. He sees a large pile of papers neatly stacked on a desk and a brown cupboard to the far right side of the room with large windows lining the walls, overlooking the castle’s courtyard. In the middle of the room sat a large bed with a set of pristine, white sheets tucked into it and pillows fluffed, not a feather out of place.

This is, without a doubt, Levi’s quarters.

“Tch. If you stand any stiffer, you’ll break that fucking neck of yours. Just sit down while I’m gone Jaeger, I’ll be back soon.” Levi murmurs, pointing to the couch to the left side of the large room before leaving the anxious man alone in his quarters.

Finally alone, Eren gawks at his surroundings and takes his time to study every inch of the well-kept space. He wasn’t sure when he’d get another chance to sneak a peek and he certainly wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.

Noticing the lack of personal items during his perusing, Eren moves towards the desk and sits by the windowsill, watching the leaves of the trees dancing in the night air.

What could Levi possibly want him here for?

When the gentle click of the doorknob breaks the silence in the room all of a sudden, Eren’s face pales with shock and he jolts up from his place by the windowsill to find an amused Levi carrying a tray with him.

Levi, smirking at the anxious man, sets down the tray on his desk before pouring the freshly-brewed tea into two cups and passes it towards Eren, who sheepishly moves to take a seat on the couch. They sip their tea quietly and occasionally glance up from their cups to meet each other’s gaze, green eyes meeting grey.

Finally breaking the silence, Eren sets down his cup on his knee and looks at Levi hesitantly. “Can I ask you something, Captain?” Levi hums a response and sits on the edge of his desk and raises an eyebrow to indicate for the man to go on. “What is this?”

Levi frowns and sets his teacup aside, focusing on the younger man in front of him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are you doing? You were kind enough to talk to me before we fought Rod Reiss’ titan a few weeks ago and then you started dodging me for weeks while we ran experiments here. And before, you got angry at me out of nowhere. I’m just trying to understand.”

A shadow passes over Levi’s eyes and he swallows a string of profanities threatening to come out of his mouth. “Tch. You think you’re doing everyone a favour by working yourself to death? In case you’ve forgotten, you’re still my responsibility, you shitty brat. No matter how fucking annoying or suicidal you are, it’s still my duty to make sure you’re healthy and prepared to fight.”

“Then why did you ignore me while we ran those experiments? You didn’t seem to care then, so why are you making such a big fuss of it now, sir?”

Levi feels himself flinch when Eren reluctantly addresses his position at the end of his question and hesitates to answer the younger man. He couldn’t let Eren know how fond he had become. How hard it was to see him practically burn himself out every single day without being able to say anything about it.

“I have other things to do than babysit you every single day Jaeger. As you can see for yourself, I have a shit ton of paperwork to finish for the Commander.”

“Bullshit.”

“Excuse me?” Levi growls, standing up from the edge of the desk to glare at the man furiously.

Eren scoffs, setting his teacup aside to get on his feet, unwilling to back down from the older man’s steely glare. “It’s bullshit. You weren’t doing your paperwork. I saw you, every single day we were out there. You just stood behind the trees and watched me run those trials over and over again.”

Levi curses in his head. How did he see him? He was pretty sure he was far enough so that no one could see him lingering to the sides. He only showed himself when he felt Hange push the kid too hard, and Eren was usually too out of it to realise.

“You know, it’s pathetic, really,” Eren continues. “I thought something had changed between us after you saved me in that crystal cave. I thought we’d become somewhat friends, and I was so excited at the thought of being friends with you, Captain.”

“Eren-“

“But turns out I just misread the situation. So it’s my mistake, Captain. Really, I’m sorry.” Eren trails off, voice filled with weary resignation. His shoulders slump forward and he drops his head dejectedly, unable to look the Captain in the eye in fear of ridicule.

Levi feels his heart clench at the sight. He couldn’t just stand there and let the kid feel sorry about himself.

Especially over this.

“You didn’t misread the situation,” Levi murmurs softly, causing Eren’s head to snap up.

“But.. What do you mean?”

Levi’s jaw clenches so tightly that Eren fears he might just pull a muscle and Levi hesitates for a moment before letting out a huff of air.

“Fuck it.”

Without wasting another minute, Levi swiftly closes the distance between them and pulls the younger man into his arms, eliciting a small gasp from the green-eyed man. Levi claims Eren’s mouth, hungry and intense, notices the man stiffen in his arms for a moment before he feels Eren relax and part his lips for Levi.

Thank fuck for that.

Eren parts his lips and feels Levi wash over him like a wave of warmth, unfurling all of his senses as he feels the older man’s tongue slide past Eren’s lips, silencing all of his thoughts. It’s like instinct the way Eren’s body curls into the older man’s, suddenly intoxicated by their proximity, and drags his hands up from Levi’s waist to the back of his head, running his fingers through the man’s undercut while he stifles a low groan of pleasure.

Levi, hearing the groan, pulls Eren closer and gives him one final chaste kiss before pulling back and resting his forehead against the younger man’s as they both try to catch their breath, eyes locked in a shared understanding and not daring to move.

“Don’t ever let me catch you say that I don’t care about your well-being, understand?” Levi huffs gruffly, sending shivers up Eren’s spine.

“Yes, sir.”


	8. Chapter 8

Levi swears he might actually commit murder when he hears a knock on the door.

“Shitty glasses, I swear to god if that’s you-“

“Levi, it’s me. I just got back from Sina and we need to talk,” Erwin calls out loudly through the door.

Eren jumps in Levi’s arms at the Commander’s deep voice, eyes widening in alarm. Swallowing nervously, he tries to move away from Levi hurriedly in fear of getting caught by the blond man but finds himself caged into Levi’s chest by the older man’s steady hold on his waist, causing him to gaze bewilderedly at Levi, who furrows his brows annoyedly at the shifter.

“It’s the commander!” Eren whispers in horror, heart beating rapidly against Levi’s chest while he squirms nervously in the raven-haired man’s arms.

Levi, watching the younger man shift anxiously in his arms with amusement, hides his smirk and rolls his eyes, reluctantly letting Eren go before breathing out a huff in frustration as he walks across the room to open the door.

Of course Erwin _had_ to come back the night Levi finally decides to do something with the brat.The Commander had great fucking timing, he’d give him that. He’d better have a great fucking excuse for interrupting Levi, or he swears he might just punch the man’s face - consequences be damned.

“Ah, there you are,” Erwin says as he walks into the room. “Eren. I didn’t expect to see you here,” he adds, glancing back at the raven-haired man questioningly when he notices the nervous soldier standing in front of the couch.

“Commander Erwin, sir!” Eren salutes earnestly, earning a kind smile from the man.

“Hange tells me your training has been going well. I was very impressed to hear how things went today. A 12-meter titan… That’s very impressive.”

“Thank you, Commander, but that’s all Hange’s doing, sir.”

“That may be so but you shouldn’t sell yourself short, Eren. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

“Thank you, sir,” Eren says, nodding solemnly.

“Oi. Are you going to tell me what you wanted to talk about or should I wait for you to finish your motivational speech?”

Erwin chuckles briefly and turns back to face the bitter Captain, who had a scowl etched on his face. “I was actually going to ask you where Eren was. Hange told me you brought him back from the wall and went to see how he was doing in his room. But seems like he was here all along.”

Eren flinches at the blond-haired man’s words, thankful that Erwin was facing away from Eren to miss his reaction, and glances nervously at Levi, suddenly very aware of how small Levi’s quarters suddenly felt with the two superior officers in the room.

“Brat nearly passed out from the exhaustion up on the wall. Figured it’d be best to take him back before Hange kills him.”

Erwin chuckles. “I suppose you’re right. Regardless, I actually had something to ask you myself, Eren.”

“Uh, yes sir?” He stammers out, shaking away the tension in his shoulders as both men turn to look at Eren.

“Have you managed to figure out who the man from your memories was? Hange’s mentioned that you remember seeing a man the day Shiganshina fell?”

Eren breathes an inward sigh of relief and nods towards the man, feeling the tension leave his body as he listens to the Commander change the subject.

“Yes, sir. I’m pretty sure I saw my father’s memories, so it must’ve been someone he knew. But he seems so familiar yet I can’t seem to remember where I’ve seen him before."

“Tch. Did you get yourself kicked one too many times in training that you’ve lost your memories, brat?” Levi scoffs, raising an eyebrow at the younger man.

Eren bows his head to hide a small smile forming on his face and coughs to stifle an unexpected snort. Raising his head to meet his superiors’ gazes again, he notices Levi casting a questioning look towards him, reminding him of the other man in the room, and straightens his back to answer.

“No, sir. I’ve already had my fair share of beatings when I was a cadet.”

“It seems Keith Shadis is still strict as always,” Erwin muses, unable to stop the amused smirk forming on his lips, often hearing how fond the former Commander was of giving the cadets different types of punishments every day from the Survey Corps recruits.

“Instructor Shadis..” Eren mutters under his breath, green eyes flickering with realisation.

That’s it.

Levi pauses and inspects the shifter curiously, hearing Eren’s sharp inhale before muttering the older man’s name. Curiosity won over Levi’s concern for the younger man and Levi swallows a groan before addressing the man.

“What? You suddenly deaf too, brat?”

“No. I mean, it was Shadis. In my memories. He’s the man my father was talking to!” Eren says, turning his gaze to the Captain.

Keith Shadis, out of all people? What could he possibly have to do with this?

Levi and Erwin stare at Eren, dumbfounded, uncertain of what to do with the information. Erwin, still taken aback at the revelation, turns to Levi but finds the shorter man looking at Eren with determined eyes, his unwavering confidence shining between the grey orbs.

“Are you sure, Eren?” Erwin asks cautiously.

“I’m positive, sir.” The younger man says, nodding solemnly at his Commander.

Erwin nods back and crosses his arms together in resolve. “Alright. I suppose we should visit him tomorrow then.”

“Yes, sir.”

With nothing more to say, Eren feels the silence inside Levi’s quarter begin to seep with awkward tension and can’t help feel out of place between the superior officers in the room with him. Flitting his eyes discreetly from Levi’s to Erwin’s, he bites his inner cheek and finally meets the blond Commander’s gaze.

“Uh- If it’s all right with you sir, I should head back to my room.

“Of course. I’m sure you’ll find Hange waiting in your room to talk to you.”

Hearing that, Levi feels a sudden urge to protest, convinced that Eren had done enough today and deserved some proper rest, but decides to remain silent. It would be suspicious for the cold man to be seen overly concerned about the shifter, especially in the eyes of Erwin.

Biting back a remark, he glances at Eren and sees the younger man nod hesitantly, looking uneasy with the idea of getting poked and prodded by Hange after the long day they’ve had.

“Yes, sir,” he murmurs quietly.

Maybe Levi was the only one who noticed or _cared_ how anxious the boy looked because as Eren salutes the two men and exits the room, Erwin doesn’t utter a single word and, instead, hums in approval when the door closes behind the green-eyed man.

After Eren leaves, Levi finds himself standing in silence with Erwin across from him, looking him over with an unreadable expression. If it were anyone else, they would probably be squirming under the Commander’s stare but Levi met his gaze comfortably, stoic and impassive as always.

“Now that we’re alone,” Erwin trails off, breaking the silence while cocking an eyebrow towards Levi which elicits a scowl from the raven-haired Captain. “Care to tell me what Eren Jaeger was doing in your room at this hour?”

Levi walks over and plops onto the couch, crossing his legs and spreading his arms to his sides while he rolls his eyes at the blond man. Levi suspected that the tall man would have some questions regarding the shifter’s presence in Levi’s quarters when Eren left, but Levi was determined not to let him in on his and Eren’s situation. Despite his respect for Erwin, Levi was distrustful by nature, a trait most people growing up in the Underground had. And knowing how cunning and manipulative the blond Commander could be, Eren and Levi’s relationship - i _f you can call it that_ \- would be something he’d use to his advantage. As a way to control Eren or worse, as something to hold over Levi. No, Levi couldn’t let Erwin know. Levi didn’t need another thing hanging over his head and he certainly wouldn’t let Erwin do anything to the young shifter.

“Tch. Shitty brat’s been out of it since he found out about his father. He’s practically killing himself with all these hardening experiments, and Shitty Glasses isn’t any help either.”

“Well we were always counting on Eren’s drive to succeed our mission,” he says, raising his brow as he studies the raven-haired man. “Still, it is strange, Levi, to see you care about Eren’s wellbeing.”

Levi sneers. “You were the one who put the shitty brat under my supervision. I thought you of all people would be happy to know how much effort I’m giving to make sure the brat doesn’t die before he can help you with whatever shitty plans you have under your sleeve.”

“Yes, I’m grateful that you’ve been able to ensure Eren’s safety and health with everything going on. I know how persistent he can be and, although it does serve its purpose most of the time, I do worry about him pushing himself too much.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to fucking mention that to Four Eyes,” Levi murmurs, rolling his eyes at the blond man in front of him.

Erwin lets out a small chuckle, causing the weight on Levi’s chest to lift a little. Seems like he was able to come up with a reasonable excuse and leave Erwin out of his business.

_For now, at least._

“Honestly Levi, I’m sure that, between the two of us, you would be more capable of handling Hange when it comes to her experiments.”

“Oi, you’re the fucking Commander for god’s sake. That’s _your_ job. It’s bad enough I have to babysit the shitty brat and his idiotic friends. So why don’t you do your job and deal with Hange before you leave to have tea with Zackly and the MPs,” Levi sneers. “And while you’re at it, stop sending over your fucking paperwork to me. I don’t get paid enough for all that bureaucratic bullshit.”

“Yes, alright. I may have gone a bit too far by sending you my paperwork,” Erwin murmurs, seeing the scowl directed at him. “I’ll also let Hange know before we go tomorrow,” the blond man concedes with a small smile,ignoring the look of irritation on Levi’s face. “Now, onto more important things. After we visit Shadis tomorrow, I want you and Hange to test out Eren’s titan-controlling ability. If Eren does manage to control this ability, it could change everything.”

Levi hides his frown, opposed to the idea of having Eren come into contact with titans outside his titan form, but nods towards Erwin instead, forcing the knot tightening in his stomach to go away.

“I’ll inform Hange tomorrow, but I’m afraid you’ll have to control her when you two conduct the experiments.”

“Tch. Didn’t I just say that was your job?”

“Actually, I’ll be in Sina while you and Hange do the experiments. I have some things to do and there’s a lot of preparation that still needs to be done before our next expedition.”

“You missing your tea buddies already, Eyebrows?” Levi says sarcastically.

“It’s really unfortunate that you can’t come with me, Levi. I’m sure it would do us some good for you to talk to Nile and Zackly into supporting our expedition.”

“I’d rather scoop horse shit all day than talk to Nile and Zackly in one of your meetings. Fucking idiots.”

“Yes, I thought you’d say that,” Erwin sighs, the corner of his mouth curling upwardly.

“And what about the other brats?” Levi asks.

It’s been weeks since Eren saw his friends and Levi can only imagine how much the brat probably missed them. Personally, he couldn’t care less about them and when they would come back. He didn’t need them here with the experiments going on and probably would be stuck babysitting the shitty idiots, but it might do Eren some good to see his friends and get some support.

And maybe his friends could get the idiot to stop pushing himself too much.

“I heard they did a good job at the orphanage and I expect they’ll need to do some more training before we go out to Shiganshina,” Erwin says as he crosses his arms, breaking Levi out of his thoughts. “I suppose it’d be best to have them come back sometime next week, at least, that way, Eren won’t be too distracted during his experiments. In any case, I don’t think Mikasa would approve of the experiments too much, so it would be best for us to keep them in the dark for now.”

Of course Mikasa wouldn’t approve. Hell, Levi himself had a hard time coming to terms with Erwin’s dangerous plan. But regardless of Levi’s personal feelings, he knew they needed to test out Eren’s new ability. If it worked, it would be useful for their next expedition and would save a lot of lives, which would be enough of a reason for the brat to agree.

Not that it took much for Eren to agree with anything these days.

“Tch. Ackerman won’t be much of a problem as long as we keep Eren alive. And even if she tries to make a scene, I’m sure I can think of something to her keep her mouth shut.”

“I do not doubt that you would, Levi,” Erwin chuckles. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it then. I’ll see you in the morning, Captain.” Erwin says, nodding curtly to the raven-haired man before exiting the room, leaving Levi alone with his thoughts.

Levi didn’t know what to think. He didn’t expect things to escalate the way they did but was surprisedly satisfied with how things worked out. He didn’t plan on letting Eren know how he felt let alone kiss the damn brat but got too fucking annoyed when the brat accused him of not caring.

God, it couldn’t be any farther from the truth.

He didn’t know why he felt a pull towards Eren and forced himself to push down his feelings towards the green-eyed shifter for months, unable to come to terms with it, and convinced himself that those feelings were due to the unspoken bond between them as the last remaining survivors of Levi’s Special Operations Squad and left it at that.

But as always, things didn’t go to plan, much to Levi’s dismay, and Eren, being the shitty brat he is, managed to break down Levi’s walls and caused the cold man to care for the brat.

And what a fucking inconvenience that was.

It didn’t help that the brat was always so eager to please his superiors and not disappoint his friends, working himself to death everyday running those shitty experiments. Yet, he never gave any indication of how tired or hurt he got, not wanting to burden anyone whenever they showed any concern over the young shifter. But Levi knew better than to take Eren’s word for it and secretly kept an eye on him every day, putting it aside as a subconscious habit he formed after Eren was put into his care, but couldn’t help feeling concerned when he saw a slight sway in the younger man’s step or when he skipped out on meals.

But it wasn’t until Eren was taken that Levi felt the overwhelming need to protect Eren. In spite of Eren’s abundance of capabilities from being both a scout and a shifter, the prospect of Eren being eaten by a Titan shook Levi to his core and caused the stoic man to falter, making him realise the hold the green-eyed man had on Levi’s heart.

He couldn’t lose Eren.

Not after everything that happened.

Sighing, Levi stands up from the couch and takes off the cravat from his neck, grimacing when he feels the damp skin hidden underneath the cravat. He needed to shower to wash off all the filth after the day he’s had.

But this couldn’t wait. He needed to talk to Eren before they leave to see Shadis in the morning.

Leaving his clean quarters, Levi walks through the darkened halls towards Eren’s room silently, eyes flickering to the sides of the halls to ensure he was alone. Only a few members of the Survey Corps’ were residing in the castle due to preparations, leaving most of the castle uninhabited, which usually allowed Levi to roam the halls freely without interruption, and for Eren to stay in one of the rooms instead of the cold dungeon.

“Levi! Didn’t expect to see you here this late.”

Fucking Four Eyes.

“Paying a late-night visit to a certain green-eyed shifter?” Hange asks sarcastically, grinning from ear to ear as she closes Eren’s door behind her.

“None of your business, Shitty Glasses,” Levi mutters, glaring at the brown-haired woman.

“Oh, come on Levi! Don’t I deserve to know the details?”

“Absolutely not.”

“No use denying it Shorty! I’ve seen the way you look at him.”

Levi scowls. He should’ve known better than to underestimate how observant Hange was. Hange had eyes like a hawk and felt the need to inspect everyone she came across which, unfortunately, included Levi himself.

“Tch. What about it?”

“Don’t worry Levi, he looks at you like that too,” Hange says, smirking knowingly at the raven-haired man. “And if that’s not enough, that cute blush on his cheeks when he came back from your room confirmed my suspicions.”

“Fuck, I guess I couldn’t keep this away from you anyways.”

Levi hears Hange squeal excitedly and groans.

“Oi, not so loud. Do you want to wake the whole goddamn castle?” Levi glowers, shooting a look to Hange, who smiles sheepishly at the angry man.

“I’m sorry but you can’t expect me not to be excited for my best friend and little titan!”

“Tch. He is _not_ your little titan.” Levi growls.

“Careful Levi, your feelings are showing.” Hange teases.

“How about I wipe that shit-eating grin off your face and we’ll see what else you have to say?”


End file.
